


Whispers from the Forest

by ospreyx



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood Kink, Explicit Sexual Content, Gore, M/M, Mystery, Painplay, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rough Sex, Slow Build, Trans Male Character, Vaginal Sex, Werewolf Sex, mauling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21536569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ospreyx/pseuds/ospreyx
Summary: According to local legend, there's some sort of creature that lurks in the forest at night. Some folks say it's to keep the children out of harm's way; others say it's a creature whose sole purpose is to protect the forest. Eren discovers that this so-called legend couldn't care less about either.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 68
Kudos: 205





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so i sat down to write werewolf porn one night and somehow ended up with a multi chapter story leading up to it. i'm not quite sure how this happened ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Raindrops tapped a smooth, quiet rhythm against the windows, rivulets chasing one another down the nebulous glass. Eren passed the palm of his hand against the glass, smearing the moisture there, but he could only just barely see the road and surrounding forest beyond. The car jumped as it ascended the mountainside, wheels crunching against the gravel and cobblestone.

Nearly a decade had passed since he’d moved from Shiganshina, and with each passing building came the persistent flush of recognition. He spotted the old bookshop that he and his friends would often visit; he could have sworn that just yesterday, they were receiving the scolding of a lifetime for breaking one of the dusty old windows.

 _You should come visit for the summer_ , Armin had told him over the phone just a few months prior. _I’m tired of spending mine in the city._

The idea, at that moment, was the most unappealing idea that Armin could have ever presented him with. Eren made a small, discontented noise in response, only for Armin to add cautiously, _maybe you could spice up that portfolio of yours with the forest, since all you’ve got so far are weddings and birthdays._

 _But that’s the point_ , Eren huffed. Nevertheless, Armin spent a few more weeks poking and prodding until he was finally convinced to go. 

Fog gradually consumed the glass around the edges, and as it slowly crept inwards, they turned into a small neighborhood. The faint, yet unmistakable outline of a large oak tree passed by. He sent a small warning message to Armin. He looked back towards the window, staring at his own reflection for a small while before the car came to a slow, torturous stop.

He stepped out into the rain with a quick thanks to the driver, dragging his duffel bag along with him. A brief flicker illuminated the murky sky above, accompanied shortly by the low rumble of thunder. For a moment, his skin prickled, unrelated to the rain, and only then did he realize the complete absence of rain in the city.

Following the curve of glossy cobblestone, Eren could see that Armin stood shivering on the porch, the door behind him held wide open. He hurried up the path and nearly slipped on the first uneven step of the porch.

“Maybe I should’ve warned you about the storm,” Armin told him, voice barely audible over the next growl of thunder overhead. He offered a hand and added, “and about that first step.”

Armin’s hand was shockingly warm against his own. Cradled by the mellow glow of the light within, Eren could vaguely see the small grin on Armin’s face. With a huff, Eren griped, “Yeah, well, it’s a little too late for that.”

Inside, several pictures and maps were hung on the walls, and on the counters and corner tables, an equally cluttered mess of trinkets. Armin led him to the fireplace, where a recently lit fire crackled quietly on, its flames lapping along the uneven edges of the logs placed there. He perched on the edge of a couch, against a few soft cushions, while Armin left to retrieve a towel.

From the small closet under the stairs, he could hear Armin say, “God, Eren, it’s been so long since you’ve moved.” He kicked the door shut behind him, rattling the few fairy lights that hung low from the railing above. “I want to say that so much has changed, but . . .”

“Literally nothing ever happens here,” Eren finished for him.

Armin offered him the towel with a small laugh, “People still talk about that kid who stole a lighter five years ago, you know.”

Despite his sour mood, Eren couldn’t stop the smile that tugged insistently at the corners of his lips. Another brief flicker shined through the windows. He stared at the few oddly shaped rocks that lined the windowsill, and just outside, he could spot the beginnings of trees and underbrush.

“You packed really light,” Armin pointed out after some time. “I seriously thought you’d bring your whole setup and everything.”

Eren rest his hand on his duffel bag, a little sheepish when he started, “Ah, well . . .”

Armin pinned him an incredulous look. “What? No way.”

“I didn’t bring much! Just my old camera.”

Seemingly dissatisfied, Armin rose from the couch and gestured Eren to follow. The staircase creaked with each step, the smooth, delicate patterns on the wood faintly highlighted by the twinkling glow of the fairy lights that twisted loosely around the railing. Upstairs, there were more picture frames, all of which depicted Armin and his late grandfather throughout his childhood. They stopped once they reached the first bedroom.

The bed, covered by a thick blanket and more pillows than Eren knew what to do with, was pushed up against the large window that overlooked the forest. Rivulets of rainwater raced down the glass, sinking past the branching leaves of the potted plants that sat along the windowsill and out of sight. The inky sky above complimented the rich navy blue of the sheets and pillowcases. 

“Make yourself at home,” Armin told him. “My room’s right down the hall, if you ever get lonely.”

The door creaked slowly shut behind him. Eren could faintly hear Armin’s footsteps down the hall. Were it not for the rain, he would have felt horribly out of place. Silence was always uncomfortable nowadays; perhaps that was the effect of perpetually busy streets and rowdy neighbors. He set his duffel bag on the bed and shrugged off his jacket. Unsurprisingly, he found a few slightly oversized shirts and sweatpants in one of the rickety drawers under the bed.

There was a faint cry outside the window that was nearly drowned out by the rain. It was high-pitched, fleeting, and if Eren was occupied with something else, it most likely would have gone by unnoticed. He stepped over to the window, idly rolling up a dry shirt is his hands, and peered down towards the outskirts of the forest.

The underbrush disappeared past the thick, gnarled trunks of oak and into the inky black void of the forest. He stared at the beginning of a path off to the side that was shielded by the overhanging branches. For a while, he stared at the desolate entrance to the forest, half expecting each flash of lightning to reveal something that was hidden in the yawning expanse of darkness. Anticipation melted into something of vague discomfort, and he quickly pulled the shirt over his head and left the room.

A louder, more aggressive growl of thunder loomed over his shoulders, eliciting a brief shiver. He knocked once on Armin’s door before opening it, and inside, Armin sat cross-legged at his desk. He swiveled around in his office chair, coming to an abrupt stop as the arm bumped against the desk.

“What’s got you spooked?” Armin asked lightly.

Fairy lights twinkled from where they were hung above the windows, connecting at each corner in long, sweeping arcs. The final arc ended at the top of a bookshelf, where books of all different colors and sizes were stacked neatly against one another. A tall lamp in the corner of the room, also wrapped in fairy lights along the shaft, washed the room in a warm, yellow glow. It accentuated the rich reds and oranges of the woven blanket that covered the bed. 

With a sigh of relief, Eren hopped onto Armin’s bed and buried his face into the fluffy pillows. He mumbled through the material, “I got lonely.”

“Yeah, right,” Armin snorted. “It’s the thunder, isn’t it? It never storms over in the city.”

Eren looked up towards the windows, which were shielded by faded mandala curtains. He couldn’t quite put his thumb on exactly what bothered him more - the forest or the storm. Or maybe it wasn’t as simple as either or; he considered the faint cry he heard somewhere in the forest that night, then pressed his face right back into the pillows with a defeated sigh.

“Sure,” he relented.

* * *

On the corner of a street nearby, there was a small coffee shop. According to Armin, it was relatively new, and it was quickly becoming popular amongst the younger townsfolk. They decided to walk there, following the cobblestone path down into the main road, where most things available were located. Eren supposed that was one positive of living in a small town; everything - quite literally _everything_ \- was within walking distance.

They settled with their drinks at a small table near the entrance. Eren watched as a few kids scrambled past, their voices high, triumphant, until Armin asked him, “Remember when we would play in the forest when we were little?”

It seemed like forever ago that Eren and his adoptive sister would both show up at the Arlert household, practically begging Armin to come with them to the forest until he finally gave in. They spent several summers with the other neighborhood kids in the forest, primarily swimming in the river, sometimes even catching the bugs they would find in the underbrush nearby. Maybe, if he tried, he could find the same path they took down to the river every morning when they were kids.

Yet despite how often they spent playing in the river, Eren didn’t recall ever venturing that far into the forest itself. He swirled what was left of his drink with his straw, a thoughtful hum in the back of his throat, before he shrugged and finally admitted, “I remember the river, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Armin rolled his eyes. “Kind of, yeah.” He bit his lip, then muttered, “You know, it wasn’t long after you left that everyone else kind of started leaving, too.”

“I don’t blame them,” Eren snorted. “I’m surprised you haven’t left yet. Why even stay?”

Armin’s eyes trailed downwards, staring blankly at his own drink as he contemplated the question. “Well,” he started, “I like how quiet it is here. It’s easier to focus. And revolving my books around the town legend has paid off pretty well, I’d say.”

Growing up, Eren and Mikasa held two separate predictions: Armin would either become a librarian or one day own a bookstore similar to the one he’d frequent at Shiganshina. They even bet on it. And they were both at a loss as to who exactly owed money when Armin somehow turned around and published his own book instead.

The inspiration of these psychological horror books wasn’t exactly well-known, but anyone who lived in Shiganshina for any notable period of time knew of the tale; some insatiable creature lurked the forest at night, devouring any intruders who ventured too far. The few witnesses who have encountered this creature all testified to the same detail - striking gray eyes and a pelt darker than the night itself.

But really, it was just a story to tell the children so they wouldn’t sneak out at night. Eren had stopped caring about this tall-tale creature long before he left Shiganshina, but even so, he could never convince Mikasa or Armin to venture out at night with him.

“Hey, do you still believe in that weird monster thing in the forest?”

Armin seemed surprised by the question. An unsure noise left his lips, and he answered lamely, “I’m not sure.”

Eren expected to share the same incredulous amusement with Armin at the mention of the creature, yet to his surprise, Armin’s response sounded eerily cautious. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we all kind of knew it wasn’t real, you know?” Armin rest his head on one hand, the fingertips of the other tapping softly against the tabletop. “I just thought it’d be really cool to write about. Then I started snooping around. And when I talk to the older folks and I look through some of the books my grandpa hid in his bedroom, it gets a little harder to believe that it’s just a story.”

Armin ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, the thick length of his collar rising to cover what was exposed of his neck. Eren never understood how he managed with turtlenecks and jeans in the muggy summer heat. That was one thing about him that never changed. Another thing that never changed was the way he’d play with his hair when he was particularly anxious.

Eren prompted slowly, “Well, that thing’s not supposed to come out during the day, right?”

“Right.”

“I think I’ll go out to one of the trails tomorrow or something. Probably snap a few pictures while I’m out there.”

Armin seemed delighted by the idea.

* * *

While Armin had never actually ventured into the forest since he was a teenager, he still had a recommendation on what he considered the “best” hiking trail. It was revealed to Eren shortly before he left that the few hiking trails available had always been desolate in the past few years.

Eren said he wouldn’t stray too far, but he was never good at sticking to his word. A few hours had passed as he walked along the path, his camera held ready in his hands along the entire way. He found that he didn’t ultimately regret leaving his music player behind; the delicate calls of birds and the faint rustle of leaves above him with each passing breeze were more than enough. 

In a lull between picture taking, he thought back to the night he arrived. There had been something so ominous about the forest then, even on the outskirts where, realistically, there would be nothing to harm him. Yet there was nothing in the present moment that set him on edge as it did that night. It was blissfully tranquil, and for a moment, he wondered where such an absurd legend sprouted from.

He strolled along in leisure, the few leaves that protruded from the underbrush gently brushing his leg as he walked by. He examined each photo until he landed on the most recent one: a patch of flowers he found cradled between two thin trees. He finally looked up from his camera, focusing only on the base of the trees where he would hopefully find more flowers to photograph.

Briefly, he considered the very beginning of his photography career. He was young, and extremely bored, and he took photos of _everything_ \- of bugs, of potted plants, of passersby he found amusing. It all started with the camera his parents used to document birthdays and holidays, until he finally convinced his mother to buy him the cheapest camera available at the corner store. The rest fell into place from there.

While each photo he took of the forest was not perfect, he was happy with them regardless. Long ago, when he was printing out his blurry photos and proudly showing them to his parents, he would have never expected to come this far.

At some point, he came across a tree with four long, jagged scratches along its bark. Eren traced his finger delicately along the edges of the outermost scratch. All four dug deeply into the tree, the smooth brown within contrasting harshly with the dull gray of the bark.

He took a few steps back, snapped a photo, and hurried down further along the path. 

Soon, the path widened, and Eren finally discovered the river. Without a canopy of leaves above him, he could see the beginnings of sunset approaching, a soft orange melting gently into the strong blue of the sky. Just a few feet away, he spotted a man seated on the sandy edge of the river.

He had his feet kicking in the water, his hands splayed out at his sides. The faintest trace of paint was evident on his pale skin, with small smudges of blue and purple marring his oversized shirt. He looked up over his shoulder as Eren approached.

“Hey there!” Eren greeted brightly. “I didn’t think I’d find anyone out here.”

He answered in a low, smooth deadpan, “I didn’t, either.”

His eyes flicked down to the camera, then back up to Eren’s face, and after a small pause, he made a motion to stand. Eren stumbled to explain, “Oh, this isn’t - I was just taking pictures of the scenery and stuff. You’re not in the way or anything.”

Slowly, perhaps against his better judgement, the man settled back down on the sand. “You’re a photographer?”

“I am! But I don’t really do this type of thing.” Eren let the camera go, allowing it to rest at his side. “I’m usually all about weddings and birthdays, you know?”

The man glanced back down at the water with a small hum. As Eren tentatively approached and settled next to him, he could see their rippling reflections amongst the glitter of the streaming water. Eren found himself entranced by the stretch of the man’s neck and deliciously pronounced collarbones. He followed the movement of them as the man straightened and leaned back.

Eren fidgeted a bit, then asked, “So, uh. What’re you doing out here?” At the exasperated look directed towards him, he quickly added, “Just wondering! Apparently, no one goes hiking anymore.”

“No one’s got the time.”

“. . . I guess not,” Eren reluctantly agreed. With a growing discomfort in the wake of silence between them, Eren continued to ramble on, “Everyone used to hang out here when we were all kids. Back before my dad and I moved away. Haven’t really had the time for hiking or swimming since we made it to the city, though. School, and all that.”

The man graced him with another fleeting glance. “Why are you here, then?”

“I’m on vacation!”

“You bring your work with you on vacation?”

“This isn’t work. All of this would just look way too out of place in my portfolio.” Eren looked up at the sky, where the sun was settling ever so slowly over the crowns of the trees. “Everything planted in the city is just done for aesthetic purposes, but here, trees and flowers just . . . _exist_ , for their own sake and not ours.” He paused, then added with a wistful sigh, “So I thought I’d take a few pictures while I’m here and hope that I don’t forget again.”

Beyond the whisper of the wind through the trees and the smooth flow of the river, the forest was silent. Eren glanced over once more and met the man’s gaze. A nearly imperceptible trace of red was evident on his cheeks when he abruptly turned away and instead focused on his reflection in the water once more.

Eventually, he tentatively offered, “I come here to think.” Prompted by Eren’s thoughtful hum, he quietly continued, “I paint. But sometimes, inspiration’s a bitch to catch, so I sit here for a while.”

There were several questions that emerged on the tip of Eren’s tongue for him to eagerly ask: where this man is from, where in town he frequents, what he paints, what colors he enjoys to work with the most. It was an impossibly laborious task to finally open his mouth to speak, distracted by pale skin and striking silver eyes, but the man abruptly stood and dusted off his shorts before he could utter a word.

“If you walk down along the river,” he told Eren, avoiding his eyes, “you’ll make it back just before the sun sets.”

Eren could only watch as the man entered the forest from the path he had emerged from earlier. The shadows of the trees quickly swallowed him whole, and once again, Eren was alone.

* * *

For a few days, he returned to the river, choosing instead to enter directly on the other side of town rather than through the trail next to Armin’s home. His camera was filled with several new photos as he traveled further down the river each time, but not once did he come across the man again. By the end of the week, he decided to spend the morning with Armin instead.

Eren was laying on Armin’s bed, propped up on his elbows with his camera in his hands, going through each photo and deleting the few that didn’t meet his standards. The insistent clacking of Armin typing away at his computer melted smoothy into the background. They sat in a comfortable silence long into the morning, until Eren finally came across the picture he took of the gashes against the tree bark.

“Hey, Armin?”

The typing came to a gradual stop. Armin turned the slightest bit. “Yeah?”

He stared at the gashes, at the way they curled over the edge and out of sight, and he tentatively prompted, “You never told me more about that forest monster thing.”

“You never asked,” Armin pointed out.

“Well, tell me about it.”

Armin removed his glasses and set them down beside the keyboard. “Okay. It still kind of freaks me out, though.” He swiveled around in his chair. “When I really think about it, I remember my grandpa told me a different version of the legend when I was little. Most old folks said that the creature ate people at night, but he told me that it wasn’t actually a creature at all.”

Eren continued to stare at the photo. At first, he assumed it to belong to a bear or whatnot, despite it being too deep, too _harsh_ to belong to any bear. Perhaps, deep down, he knew that they didn’t belong to a bear, but accepting that it belonged to some unknown entity was somehow more distressing.

“He used to talk about a spirit that would protect the trees,” Armin explained softly, as if reminiscing the memory, “and, out of respect, we shouldn’t bother it when we’re not supposed to.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “Are you sure he didn’t just tell you that because you’re a baby when it comes to creepy shit?”

“Well, I thought about it like that, too. Because, at this point, are we even really talking about the same legend?” He got up from his chair and approached the bookshelf. He said in a distracted murmur, “I couldn’t decide if it was a monster or spirit, so I went looking around.”

His finger ran down the spines of each book until he came across a particular hardcover book. Eren caught a glimpse of the faded text on its cover as it was pulled out, once printed in a bright, extravagant text that dimmed throughout the years. Armin plopped down on the bed, flipping quickly through the pages, and Eren dragged himself upwards to sit next to him.

“I found this when I finally got around to cleaning out Grandpa’s old room. He kept it with his letters from Grandma. What seriously weirds me out is that this one’s specific to Shiganshina.”

On the left-hand side, there were long paragraphs written in small, significantly faded text. Next to it, some dark entity lingered on the paper, every feature of its torso smudged and distorted, its eyes impossibly large and vacant.

“The spirit that protects this forest is said to draw its power from the moon. And it stays as some sort of an omniscient entity unless there’s a reason to manifest into a physical creature. It’s . . . kind of hard to say whether it’s a malevolent spirit or not.”

As much as Eren wanted to read the text that Armin had been pointing to, it was nearly impossible to tear his eyes away from the entity drawn onto the page. Something about its hollow eyes tore into his very being, swallowing him as easily and as wholly as the shadows that engulfed the trees once the sunlight was gone.

“‘The spirit does not do harm to those who enter the forest without malicious intent.’ Which makes sense,” Armin reasoned, thankfully closing the book and setting it aside, “because remember that one time Jean ran into the forest when his dad caught him smoking? He came back scared shitless, but he wasn’t _harmed_ in any way.” He paused, a soft, defeated noise issuing from the back of his throat. “You know, I tried asking him about it once. He acted . . . kind of weird about it.”

Somehow, as if the entity had relinquished its hold on him, Eren was finally able to ask, “What do you mean?” 

Armin glanced out the window towards the forest. His countenance was oddly blank, only contorting into a grim expression when he said, “He told me that whatever it was, it wasn’t human.”

Eren couldn’t find it in himself to stare at the photo of the gashes any longer.


	2. Chapter 2

The forest around the trail next to Armin’s home was denser, somehow. It wasn’t very far down the trail when gnarled tree roots and thick undergrowth began to cut into the narrow path. While it made the hike more difficult, it also provided a few more photos for Eren to add to his collection. Maybe in dimmer lighting, or even at nighttime, it would perfectly depict a more ominous, otherworldly atmosphere.

One thing that Eren was looking for wasn’t flowers or any animal in particular; during the late morning, when the sun was brighter and he was considerably braver, he decided he would investigate the gashes. His visits to the other trails were fruitless, leaving only this one, and to his surprise, he eventually found similar gashes on a couple of trees about an hour into his hike.

Not too far off the path, there were more gashes that were much lower to the ground and deeper than the initial ones. His mistake that day, he later realized, was venturing further further into the forest, using only the trail of gashes that he followed inwards as a point of reference to make his way back out. On his way, he took photos of each one, capturing the gradual progression from finely placed scratches to more frantic, mindless ones.

It was much darker this deep into the forest. He only spotted a thin lining of crimson on the last set of gashes he found when he inspected the photo. He looked upwards, met only by the thick canopy of branches and leaves. He stepped through a particularly thick patch of underbrush, the crunch of leaves and twigs deafening.

He made his way to the previous set of gashes, then barely found the ones before that. It slowly dawned on him after wandering aimlessly in search of the next few gashes that he was lost.

Every rustle of leaves and snap of twigs under his feet was as horrendously raucous in his ears as the sound of breaking glass. He looked around at each tree, at each bush and patch of wild grass, all of which melted together into one identical image regardless of which direction he went.

He realized that he was not lost, but _hopelessly_ lost.

He would berate himself if he could remember how to breathe first. He would call for help if his phone had a signal. All he could do, then, was push through the underbrush in a single direction until he found something. And - upon not finding anything for quite a while - start to hyperventilate.

Eventually, he tripped on a tree branch hidden beneath a few leaves and fell face-first into the ground. He breathlessly cursed out as he dragged himself up onto his knees.

“Are you lost?”

He flinched back with a sharp yelp. To his right, the man from the river was there, seated on a patch of leaves between two thick tree roots. Thin smears of red were visible on his cheek and the collar of his shirt.

Eren immediately blurted out, “How the hell did you get here?”

“I walked,” he answered.

“You - you just - _walked_ out here?” Eren asked incredulously. “Just like that?”

“I live here, asshole.”

Small patches of sunlight peeked through the leaves and stretched out over his smooth, pallid skin. He looked ethereal, almost, shrouded by the looming shadow of the forest, eyes still so stunningly bright. His back pressed against the tree in a languid slouch that miraculously helped to lift the tension from Eren’s shoulders.

A small laugh left Eren’s lips when he admitted, “Well, uh. I guess I’m . . . kind of lost, yeah. . . .”

“You’re a little too far into the forest to just be kind of lost,” he pointed out.

The furrow in his brow was gone, and on his lips was the slightest crook of a grin. Somehow, Eren wanted to laugh.

“Yeah, okay, sure.” Eren rose to his feet, dusting off as much as he could from his clothes. “So you know the way out, right?”

“How’d you know?” he asked dryly, as if the question was painstakingly obvious. He also stood, and whatever discontentment that was in his voice disappeared when he said, “I’ll show you where the river is.”

Eren wordlessly followed him around the tree and back into the forest. For the first time that day, he could hear the wildlife call and sing to one another, hidden high in the trees and low in the depths of the underbrush. It was only then when he had someone to guide him that he took the time to take in the forest for what it was: surreal, breathtaking, and in its own solemn way, mystical.

A patch of wildflowers that he hadn’t discovered near the hiking trails caught his eyes some ways off. He immediately reached for his camera at his hip, only to find that it was missing.

Upon the realization, he frantically started, “Hey, wait. My camera -”

Eren finally looked over to the man next to him. He was holding Eren’s camera, switching slowly from one photo to the next. He stopped in his tracks, the faintest tone of wonder hidden in his voice as he said, “These are nice.”

Maybe Eren should have been upset by the breach of privacy, but he couldn’t help but bask in the rush in his chest that was elicited by the compliment. He took the camera when it was offered back to him, muttering, “Thanks.”

Something remarkably soft resided in the man’s eyes. They were a bright silver, lined by a thin ring of murky black, and for a moment, Eren couldn’t breathe. For one painful, fleeting moment, they lingered there, enchanted by silver and cradled by birdcall. The world came crashing back in when the man continued onwards, completely unphased, while Eren struggled to get his legs moving again.

He walked a few steps ahead. For a long while, Eren itched to ask him all the questions that came to mind, but he didn’t dare utter a word. There was a unique sort of tranquility in the comfortable silence that they fell into.

Eren watched as he stepped over every root and seamlessly weaved through each plant that obstructed their path. It was like he belonged there, forever engraved into the natural flower of the forest. Eren wondered how he managed to achieve such a miraculous feat.

He eventually asked, “Hey, uh. Do you -”

The man abruptly stopped. Eren stumbled and just barely managed to keep himself from walking into him. The man pinned him with those enrapturing eyes of his, brow quirked up the slightest bit at the question, and Eren helplessly spluttered, “Uh - do you - do you visit the town? At all? I mean - I just - I haven’t really seen you around.”

“No.”

Taken aback by the curt response, Eren mumbled, “Oh. Well -”

“Shut up for a second.” Nearby, Eren could hear the soft hiss of rushing water. The man continued, “Keep going that way and turn left when you reach the river.”

Eren watched him retreat into the yawning depths of the forest. He wasn’t quite sure whether he felt relief or loss.

* * *

Another thunderstorm washed over the land, and the following morning, Eren decided he would take a walk through town instead. He left late that morning with Armin, who decided he would finally take a break from his work. He made a point of not bringing his camera.

They followed the cobblestone path down through the small neighborhoods. Several large, overhanging trees spilled leaves over the cracked sidewalks, the shade they provided a blissful relief from the sun. Eventually, they arrived at what remained of an old ice cream shop a few streets down.

Armin was the one who stopped first. He neared the glass and peered between the boards that had been nailed over the windows. He reminisced the days when they were still in school together, laughed over how often they would frequent the shop with Mikasa and a few others from their class.

Nearly a decade ago, Eren stood in front of this same ice cream shop, drawn to it by its flashing lights and colorful displays against the windows. The last time he visited was with his mother. They were on their way home from the grocery store, and Eren was in charge of keeping the bread safe. His mother willingly stopped with him, and he got to order his favorite ice cream, and he completely overlooked how exhausted she seemed that day.

It wasn’t long after that when she told him she was leaving.

“You okay?” Armin asked him after some time.

Long ago, there were no worries about what lurked in the forest, no worries about where he and his father were going, no worries over what he heard his parents whispering furiously about when they assumed he was asleep. There was no mystery in the forest beyond what the elders spoke of, absolutely no traces of anything amiss that would keep him awake at night; there was only a group of classmates who hung out near the ice cream shop on the days they didn’t visit the river.

“Yeah.”

They stopped for candy apples not too far away. Armin complained profusely about the apples somehow not being sweet enough, and for a while, Eren could forget the forest and his mother and simply enjoy the walk.

* * *

A few days passed before Armin returned to his work in full, grumbling something about his editor bothering him concerning the slow progress. He blamed Eren. They had a good laugh about it over breakfast, and then Eren left him alone at his desk to focus.

The sunlight burned against his face the moment he stepped out of the front door. In the late morning when the sun shines its brightest, there was an allure to the river, where he knew he would find relief from the heat in. Ultimately, he returned to his room to retrieve his swim trunks and canister before setting off to the river.

He would invite Armin if he wasn’t busy. He would invite Mikasa, as well, if she could return his calls at that time of day. She was most likely still in class, or possibly at home preparing for the exams he knew were looming dangerously close by. 

In more recent days, he yearned to be able to return with them both to the river and relive what had been left behind several years ago; Mikasa would linger on the sidelines, and Eren would try to splash her wish each cannonball, and Armin would panic whenever something touched his foot in the water. He debated calling her again that night.

Deep into the forest, at one of the smooth bends of the river where the water was at its calmest, he found the man from the forest. He sat at the edge with his feet in the water, just as he did when they first met. Eren lingered for a moment, shocked at the sudden discovery of a man he couldn’t find no matter how hard he tried. He only realized he was staring when silver eyes turned to him.

Eren stuttered over every word that tried to come out of his mouth before he settled weakly, “Hi.”

Eren neared the man and caught sight of the thin smile that pulled on the corners of his lips. He returned lightly, “Hi.”

“Finding inspiration again?”

He returned his gaze to the water. “Something like that.”

He didn’t complain when Eren took the liberty to sit cross-legged next to him by the water. Eren listened to the birdcalls that seemed to grow more distant as time passed. He looked over to the man, and on his pallid skin were traces of yellow and red.

“What do you like to paint?” Eren asked him.

The man didn’t immediately respond. He bit his lip, contemplated the question, his eyes never leaving his reflection against the water.

“Nature,” he responded. A minute passed with Eren hanging on to every second, and he eventually elaborated, “Usually the animals. Deer, mostly. They pass by here often.”

Eren looked over to the thin underbrush and trees that lined the sand across the river, seemingly expectant of finding something. “They do?”

The man followed his line of sight, then dryly pointed out, “When you’re not so God damn loud, they are.”

“I scare them?” Eren asked, tone incredulous as if it were the most ridiculous thing he could have ever been accused of. “No way. I wouldn’t hurt a fly.” In an afterthought, he added, “Or a deer, for that matter.”

A soft huff of laughter left the man’s lips. It was barely audible over the trickle of water and the delicate whisper of the breeze. He quietly agreed, “You wouldn’t, no.”

It was difficult for Eren to tear his gaze away from the man next to him. He was still a solemn enigma, some ethereal being in Eren’s mind who could just as easily be swept away by the wind as the leaves that skittered across the ground. It occurred to him that they haven’t even properly introduced each other yet.

“Hey, I’m Eren, by the way.”

“Levi,” he responded.

“So, Levi,” Eren started, eyeing the traces of paint on Levi’s skin, “Do you ever show off your work anywhere? Like at an art show or something? A library, maybe?”

“No.”

While short, the answer wasn’t as cold as it had been before when they traveled through the forest together. Eren held his breath, then tentatively offered, “Well, there’s a coffee shop in town that would love to display your art, I bet.”

Levi fleetingly glanced down to his lips, then returned to his eyes to ask, “Was that a lame attempt at asking me out for coffee?”

Eren barely caught the flash of sharp canines when Levi spoke. _Fuck._ “That depends.” He scratched the nape of his neck, careful to mask the anticipation he felt when he pressed, “Did it work?”

A low hum resonated from Levi’s chest. “I don’t like publicity, but I’ll think about it.”

Eren looked up at the sky, a few thin clouds trailing slowly near where the sun still hung high above the treetops. If it hadn’t been so quiet, or if he hadn’t been paying attention, he would have missed Levi’s soft murmur, “I could just show you, though.” There was something exquisitely delicate in his eyes when he said, “Sometime. I live upstream.”

A wide, toothy grin spread across Eren’s lips. “I’ll dress up for the occasion and everything! I’ll even bring my camera.”

“No pictures. I’ll throw your sorry ass out if you can’t follow that rule.”

Eren laughed at that, boisterous and careless and remarkably liberating, and Levi couldn’t hold the same displeased furrow in his brow for very long after.

* * *

One thing that Eren didn’t realize was missing when he moved into the city with his father were the stars.

In the city, the sky was empty, filled only with the moon, the occasional plane, and on rare nights, a field of blotchy clouds. Above the forest, the sky was illuminated by the stars, far too crowded for him to even begin counting them. The dull orange of the town’s lights muffled with the deep blue of the sky, just barely visible over the tops of the trees.

Eren lingered out on the sidewalk when he emerged from the house to take out the trash. Distantly, he heard the clang of dishes in the sink, and down the road, the muffled voices of two passersby on their way home. Under the starry night sky was the trail next to Armin’s house, curving just over the hill and disappearing under the thick blanket of trees and underbrush. 

It wasn’t that the forest itself frightened him, he realized; it was the fear of _what_ was potentially in the forest, hidden under the shroud of night. While the origins and actual details of the legend remained enigmatic, one thing stood true amongst most of them - whatever lurked at night did not needlessly attack anyone who entered without malintent.

But what _was_ his intent at that point? Whether it was to satiate his curiosity or if it was done purely for the alluring rush of adrenaline that often tagged closely behind fear, he wasn’t quite sure. Regardless, he followed the narrow path into the forest.

While impossibly dark, the forest was still lively at night; both overhead and around him, the chirps of insects and rustle of rodents rummaging in the underbrush kept him company. It was an odd comfort, more so than the stars that peeked through the tree branches. 

The moon cast a faint light on the pathway, illuminating the protruding bushes and tree roots just enough for Eren to narrowly avoid them. Behind him, the light of Armin’s home still peeked through the path, swallowed nearly whole by the shadows. He wondered briefly if he should have brought his camera.

The patches above him that were littered with the stars grew days. The light of the moon had also ceased to shine on him, allowing the shadows of the trees to engulf him. Vaguely, he could make out the outline of trees around him, the light of Armin’s home behind him that was just barely visible no longer present.

He could only hear the rush of his own heart in his chest. Then, suddenly, the sound of crunching leaves and twigs erupted somewhere off to his right. It took only a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer lighting; a silhouette stood out to him from between the trees, significantly darker than the shadows that surrounded it.

It was vaguely humanoid, standing impossibly still amongst the underbrush. There was something in the darkness that held him then, the gaping yawn of the void something he couldn’t draw his eyes from, similar to the chains that held him to the creature that was drawn upon the page in Armin’s book. In his ears, there was only the pounding of his heart, the rattle of his own shaky breath, until a distant voice finally reached him.

He slowly realized that it was Armin’s voice that called to him. The frigid tendrils that had clasped around his heart abruptly let go and vanished the very moment he peered down the path and spotted the thick, yellow glow of the lantern. His head snapped back to the forest, but all he could see was one smooth, unmoving wall of darkness.

Armin held his lantern in one hand, the other reaching out to clasp Eren’s shoulder. He gave Eren a light shove as he whispered harshly, “What are you doing out here?”

There was a slight tremor in his voice. Eren tried to apologize, but he could only manage a small, helpless noise. Around them, the moonlight started to peek through the trees again, its glow penetrating the canopy and lighting the trail once more. Faintly, the calls of the wild began, gradually increasing in volume.

“I just wanted to take a few pictures,” Eren murmured. He peered around him at the strong outlines of trees and bushes, then over to the stars above. “I thought it’d be nice. . . .”

“You’re so -” Armin cut himself off with a weak laugh. “Eren, you’re ridiculous. I can’t _believe_ you.” He huddled closer, glancing at the trees around him, and he quietly prompted, “Well? Are you gonna show me, then?”

There was the delicate sigh of relief that accompanied his words, his voice no longer trembling and unsure. In a way, Eren also felt relief, cradled by the warm, protective glow of the lantern.

“Ah - well, I . . .” Under Armin’s expectant gaze, he admitted with a heavy sigh, “Turns out, I forgot to grab it on my way out. . . .”

The way back down the trail was silent, filled only by the wildlife, whatever tension that had built on his way in quickly draining back out. At some point, he heard Armin ask distantly, as if looking over his shoulder, “It’s . . . actually not that bad in here, is it?”

The pit of his stomach flushed with cold dread at the thought of the silhouette between the trees. He could only answer with a brief hum.

* * *

They stopped by the library during their next walk through town. The cobblestone path they followed curved and led into the smooth marble staircase. They entered through the glass doors placed just behind two faded columns and an overhanging arch that cast a large shadow over them.

Armin led him to the very back of the library, where a few desks were placed before large, dusty windows. He spoke quietly, both out of respect and reminiscence, of the countless hours he spent at this desk while he researched for his first novel. He pointed out the selection of books just across from it, which had conveniently consisted mostly of folklore and other supernatural topics.

Eren was never one to read for pleasure, but on the rare occasion, he did take an interest in books that covered even the slightest of supernatural phenomena. He browsed through a couple of books before turning to ask Armin about where in this section had he found the most success. But Armin was no longer sitting at the desk, and after a quick glance around, Eren found him just a few bookshelves away.

Armin was talking to who Eren assumed was the librarian. He was tall, much taller than them both, with a thick jacket thrown loosely over his shoulders. He added the book he was holding to the stack of books he had in the cart behind him. Armin spoke to him with a nervous smile, a delicate trace of a blush high on his cheeks, and Eren didn’t know what to make of it.

The librarian looked over to where Armin pointed. Eren gave him an awkward little wave. He heard Armin say, “He’s been really interested in the forest lately.”

When Armin led the librarian over, Eren held his hand out in greeting, saying, “I’m Eren! It’s nice to meet you.”

Only then, with his hand extended outwards, did he notice the thick knot that the librarian’s jacket had been tied into where the adjacent arm was missing. He withdrew his hand as if he had been burned, blurting out, “Oh, I’m sorry!”

The librarian gave him a warm smile, amusement flashing in his eyes. “No harm done,” he reassured. “My name is Erwin. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Over Erwin’s shoulder, he could see how Armin was fiddling with his hair, his gaze on them oddly expectant. Erwin gestured down the rows of bookshelves towards the entrance.

“Let’s stop by my desk. We can talk there for a while.”

The library was considerably empty. Eren could hear every footstep, every creak of the cart that Erwin pushed along with them, even breaths that he took. The glossy tabletop reflected the bright lights overhead, and behind the chairs and empty bookshelves was a door leading into the back room. Just before entering, Armin placed the books Erwin had picked out onto the shelves.

Eren tentatively took a seat in the chair that Erwin offered across from him. Erwin leaned against the arm rest, nudged a few miscellaneous papers aside, then turned to ask Eren, “So what’s been bothering you lately?”

Eren bit his lip. Under Erwin’s narrow, enigmatic eyes, he could only offer lamely, “The forest.”

A low chuckle resonated from Erwin’s chest. “Yes, but what about the forest bothers you?”

The night he wandered down the path into the forest resurfaced from the back of his mind. He considered the entity that stood between the trees and the void that loomed ominously over his shoulder, as if it were following every step he took and waiting for the right moment to swallow him whole. To think that, just before sunset, the forest would be a source of blissful tranquility was more confusing and infuriatingly contradictory than the legend itself.

“The creature that the legend talks about,” Eren stated. “What is it, exactly? A monster? Some weird spirit? How has no one ever seen it before?”

“Let me tell you a story.”

Armin emerged from the back room and joined them, rolling over to Eren’s side on an office chair he found. Eren caught the way Armin’s breath hitched at the warm smile Erwin gave him.

“A long time ago, the hunters would occasionally find a carcass in the forest. They said the wounds on these animals were nothing like anything they’ve seen before.”

Briefly, Eren wondered why he didn’t bring his camera. He could have shown Erwin the gashes that sank deeply enough to reveal the strong brown from within, that had traces of blood that lingered at its jagged corners and sometimes dripped down through the crevices of the bark. Maybe then, he would have the confirmation he both craved and dreaded - a claim from someone other than him that the gashes did not belong to the natural predators that inhabited the forest.

“But after every full moon, they’d find a handful of carcasses, not just the one. The hunters said they were all mutilated, but never actually eaten by any animal. They considered these to be sacrifices.”

Eren’s brow furrowed. “Sacrifices?”

“Well, that makes it sound more malicious than they actually viewed it as,” Erwin explained, tone apologetic. “Hunters would always return with plenty to eat. People who wandered too far always made it back home safely. It’s never been widely agreed on whether it was a creature or a spirit. All that was accepted by the townspeople was that something lurked in the forest at night, and very few have risked going in to find out what it is.”

For a small while after Erwin spoke, Eren merely listened to the quiet, consistent ticking of the large clock hung high above them. He finally asked, “Is it true?”

Erwin quirked a brow upwards, asking him lightly in return, “Is it?”

“Do _you_ believe it’s true?” Eren huffed impatiently.

Erwin gave him a soft, knowing smile at the question. “I believe some of it is true and some isn’t. The only way to find out is to investigate it yourself.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS TIME

Under the watchful eye of the moon, Eren set off down the river, a skein of yarn in one hand and his camera in the other. There was a thrill to the thought of discovering what lay hidden in the forest at night, but he was unwilling to jump to a direct investigation of the gashes before first testing the extent of the truth in Erwin’s telling of the legend.

He couldn’t explain what exactly called to him from the forest. There was an inexplicable allure to the mystery of the creature, now more than ever, considering the apparent impunity in which he could investigate with; if what Erwin said was true, he would emerge from the forest unscathed. Armin was adamantly opposed to the next planned visit, however, until Eren agreed to venture down the river only.

The bends at which its river was most tranquil was virtually silent under the endless cries of wildlife. Eren soon spotted a patch of sand and underbrush that had recently been disturbed. The indents of several footprints were barely recognizable in the large patch of wet, clumped sand, as if something had emerged from the river and disappeared into the forest.

With his heart hammering in his chest, he tied the yarn around a tree root that protruded through the underbrush and ventured inwards. Thick splatters of blood marred the ground and the leaves until they grew into wet, glistening smears at the bases of a few trees. They twisted and turned until finally, Eren came across a matted lump that had been poorly hidden by the underbrush.

A few leaflets clung to the body of the deer, curling alongside the deep laceration that had dug into its abdomen. Blood wept from the wounds, long and unnervingly jagged, rancid enough to make Eren step back with a grimace.

He looked up and around at the trees that surrounded him. They stretched out into the patchy canopy, unmoving in the deafening silence that surrounded him, as suffocating as the corpse was. The hairs at the back of his neck stood, a chill clawing its way down his spine, but no matter where he cocked his head, he could see nothing but the insouciant void of the forest.

He looked down at the skein in his hands, carefully looping the yarn between two trembling fingers with each few steps that he took. The first thing he noticed was the considerable lack of resistance in the yarn - then, not too far from the corpse, he discovered the frayed remains of the yarn, a few threads of it hanging off the rough tree bark.

With blood rushing in his ears, he let out a breathless curse and searched fruitlessly for the remainder of the yarn. He was only met by the unrecognizable mass of trees and underbrush with each direction he stepped out towards. He rushed down where he thought he saw a smear of blood, his labored breaths lingering in his ears, his heartbeat louder than the leaves he crushed under his foot, until he heard a sharp rustle in the bushes next to him.

He abruptly stopped. There was nothing he could see in the void, nothing but the shadows of the trees and bushes, and distantly, he heard more rustling, growing further away with each passing second. It was deliberate, insistent, as if calling to him, urging him forwards. He took a hesitant step towards the sound.

It felt like hours, pressing one tentative foot past the other, slowly progressing towards the rustling of leaves that could be heard some ways ahead of him. It felt like an eternity, following whatever it was through the forest, never once coming near to it but also never falling far behind. He took a sharp turn, and soon, the low rush of water replaced the rustling.

Just before he reached the river, he spotted the yarn, stretching past the bushes and into the forest. He looked over his shoulder, again met by nothing, his ears picking up the faintest cries of wildlife that slowly started to melt back into the night. He let out an incredulous laugh.

* * *

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” Eren had told Armin from where he sat fixing a band-aid over his thigh on the couch. “It’s like - every time I think I’ve figured it out, something else comes up to prove me wrong. It’s killing me.”

One thing that remained painfully unclear to Eren was whether this so-called legend was a physical entity or a spiritual one. It was an enigma, truly - the gashes, the corpse, the silhouette he saw near Armin’s home, the contradictions in each telling of the legend. What was most infuriating was that he didn’t even have a plan. He could only wonder, forever shrouded in a perpetual blanket of confusion, until he either gave up on the mystery or forgot it ever existed, just as he did when he left Shiganshina.

Armin had been in the kitchen that morning, rummaging around for a matching set of mugs, the strong scent of coffee lingering heavily in the air. He told Eren off-handedly, “All conventional methods are off the table, too. I mean, it’s not like you can just catch the damn thing, right?”

It was meant to be a joke, Eren knew, but he still considered the idea.

* * *

The shopkeeper had been enthusiastic with his recommendations. He directed Eren over to a particularly low shelf nearby, fingers tracing the smooth edges of the trap slowly, delicately as he griped something about coyotes, about pests, about how to handle them. And Eren listened regardless, becoming increasingly impatient until he finally left some time later with a few traps and carefully worded directions on how to set them.

What was more infatuating than the mystery, Eren realized, was the idea of finally solving it once and for all. Part of him acknowledged that this was most likely a futile effort, and what he would catch would be nothing more than the prey that the hunters already frequently brought home. The other part of him lingered on the evidence that he had acquired, on the simultaneous thrill and dread that clung to him with each passing glance to the forest past sundown, and with some mild encouragement from Armin, he finally set out early one morning to execute his plan.

The sun had barely started to peek over the horizon, its weak rays of light coalescing with the clear sky to form a soft pink above him that disappeared behind the trees. He carefully navigated through the path until he came to the familiar bend that would lead him back to the river in just a few hours.

He set the traps sporadically on his way there, and when he was done, he followed the thin, gnarled path back to the river. At the end of the path, he could vaguely recognize the figure that sat at the edge of the water. It was somehow both a surprise and a welcome relief when he met with Levi, who was wearing the same oversized and paint-stained shirt as he was when they first met.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Eren cheekily greeted.

At Levi’s side, there was a paper bag that Eren recognized from the shop he visited a day prior. Levi pulled the bag closer to himself, sighing, “I live here, you brat.”

“So,” Eren started. “What’ve you got there?”

Levi gave him an exasperated look. “Stop being nosy.”

“Yeah, and you looked through my camera, so I think it’s a fair trade.”

A small laugh left Levi’s lips; it was gentler than the smooth stream of water that he had dipped his feet into, more breathtaking than the sunrise that accompanied Eren early that morning into the forest. Eren settled next to him, yearning to say anything and everything at once, but he instead lingered on the small smear of yellow that he caught along Levi’s sharp jawline.

“It’s paint,” Levi said when he met Eren’s eye. He tilted his head towards the bag. “For a project I’m thinking of starting on next.”

“Oh? Something like. . . ?”

Levi glanced up towards the other side of the river. He answered wistfully, “A landscape, I think.”

Eren followed his line of sight, focusing on the few rocks that protruded from the water. “What’s your inspiration this time, then? The river?”

“No.” He was quiet, tentative; a few moments passed by ever so slowly, and he finally said, “It’s your eyes.” Eren couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think when Levi admitted further, “I can see the forest in your eyes.”

“My eyes. . . .” Eren repeated numbly.

He craved the feeling of Levi’s lips pressed against his own, to perhaps reach out and run his fingers against the smooth, pale skin as if to prove that he was real. That he wasn’t an enigma that Eren could only dream of, that he was somehow within Eren’s reach. He drowned in the silver of Levi’s eyes, and he could only stare, every word he could possibly utter refusing to leave the tip of his tongue.

Levi abruptly turned away. He pulled one foot out of the water, hooked his fingers over the threaded handle of his bag, and only then did Eren realize with a jump in his heart that he hadn’t responded.

Before Levi could escape, before he could disappear into the forest with naught more than a whisper of the breeze, Eren said, “Wait, Levi -”

Levi’s brow furrowed, more from confusion than from annoyance. He slowly settled back down onto the sand. “What do you want?”

Eren’s breath caught in the back of his throat. He couldn’t formulate any response, his only guilty admission tumbling out of his mouth, “I want to kiss you.”

For the first time, Levi’s countenance displayed more than the enigmatic mask that he had adopted. A helpless noise left Eren, and in the wake of silence between them, he caught himself and hurriedly said, “Wait, I’m - I didn’t -” He peered into the water, struggling to find anything to focus on that wasn’t Levi. “I’m sorry, I - I wasn’t thinking -”

A warm, gentle touch at Eren’s temple brought his stammering to a screeching halt. Levi’s hand ghosted over his own as he pulled away just the slightest bit, voice low in Eren’s ear as he murmured, “You talk too much.”

* * *

“You know, I actually can’t decide if your plan is dumb or not.”

Eren looked up to where Armin was lounging against the couch, clutching a pillow over his chest. “You’re supposed to support me.” He placed a few bandages that he had set out on the table into his duffel bag. “I thought that was what best friends were for.”

Armin didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse, bringing Eren to talk to Erwin that day at the library, but eventually, he gave in to the plan, albeit reluctantly. He stretched out and turned over, tucking the pillow under his chin, watching him pack his supplies away.

“I support you, but I’m still gonna call you dumb. _That’s_ what best friends are for. And anyways . . .” His voice faltered, and when Eren turned to address him, he carefully asked, “What’re you gonna do if you find something?”

Truth be told, Eren hadn’t thought about it. There was the undeniable allure of discovering what truly lay hidden in the forest, and what he saw the other night, hidden amongst the trees, dense and unmoving, did not dampen the urge the slightest bit. He didn’t think he’d be able to ignore the whispers from the forest for very much longer, even if he hadn’t taken an interest to begin with. 

Eren slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, setting his hand over the pocket where he knew his camera lay. He settled with a heavy sigh, “I’ll tell you all about it! Then you’ll be morally and contractually obligated to give me a share of the profit when you write another book about it.”

Armin rolled his eyes. There was still the gleam of worry on his face, in the furrow of his brow and the indent where he had been biting his lip, but he didn’t protest any further.

* * *

The forest, as always, was as loud at night - if not _louder_ \- than it was during the day. It was soothing, encouraging, but even as they lulled and came to a gradual stop, Eren continued on. He didn’t know how long he was out there for, stepping as carefully as he could past each obstruction of the path, focused only on the forest ahead of him before the cacophony finally ceased.

He had brought the lantern with him this time. It illuminated the path before him with a warm, honeyed glow, the heat of it melting through his gloves hand and seeping into his jacket. His skin prickled, the hairs at his nape standing, and against his better judgement, he looked over his shoulder. He was greeted by the insouciant void of the forest.

He knew, by the yarn that he had tied on a tree root close by, that the first of many traps he had set was nearby. He continued onwards, slowly, the biting urge to look over his shoulder and spot whatever it was that stalked him steadily becoming too unbearable to ignore. Some time passed with him progressing down the path, passing by another trap or two, and eventually, he started to consider it a failure. But, at the very least, it was entertaining when it lasted.

He stopped in his tracks. He lowered the lantern, looking up to the patchy canopy where the moon was hidden, and decided to head back. It was then, almost as if on cue, that he heard the unmistakable spring of the trap trigger and snap. Accompanying that was a strangled sound, somewhere between a shout and a yelp.

Eren’s breath rattled in his chest, deafening in the yawning silence of the forest, and slowly, he turned to face where he heard the noise. His legs refused to move, eyes wide and incredulous, until he heard the rattle of a chain and the frantic shuffling against the underbrush. He cautiously stepped forward, uncertainty and anticipation pooling in his gut, and entered through the underbrush.

The lantern shed light upon the barely concealed line of string that he had pressed into the dirt and hidden amongst the leaves. He followed it to the small clearing hidden between two thick oak trees, the breath he didn’t know he had been holding forcing its way out when he lifted the lantern to look into the clearing.

A familiar set of silver eyes glared up at him. They were bright, almost white, and in the lamplight, skin deathly pallid and tinted a warm yellow, Levi sat curled in the dirt. One leg was outstretched to accomodate for the trap that clamped around his ankle, the skin around it weeping a deep, ugly red. Eren caught the slight movement of Levi’s hand retracting from where it had gripped the peg that the trap had been pinned to, something incredulous welling in his chest at the sight of thick, white claws.

Levi folded his arm inward, over his lap, while the other kept him upright. Black fur covered his hands and wrists, melting into a soft gray as it tapered off and disappeared just below his elbows. Neither of them moved, the world seemingly stuck on its axis, refusing to spin for even a moment as they merely stared. Eren was the first to move; he took a step forward, and his heart sped faster as Levi’s pupils rapidly dilated. Levi’s lip contorted back into a grimace, revealing pointed canines, a low growl reverberating from the back of his throat.

“Levi?”

He didn’t respond. Eren took another slow, tentative step forward, some part of him alight with hope and yearning alike, but another harsh growl made him flinch back. Another eternity passed between them, the idle flicker of the flame in the lantern mesmerizing in a way.

Eren startled when he heard Levi say, “So?”

His brow furrowed. He ached to step forward, to speak, to scream, to do _something_ , but he could only stay rooted where he stood. He swallowed thickly, mouth dry, and rasped, “What?”

“So?” Levi repeated, another low, clicking growl lacing his voice. “What happens now?”

His lip was still contorted back into a grimace, his eyes blown wide and glassy, as if he were an animal, caged and hopelessly cornered by a hunter. Eren vaguely realised that, in a way, he was an animal - an animal, a _creature_ that had been hidden in the woods, leaving so many careless clues behind. A creature that had stalked Eren that night, and most likely every other night, never lingering too far behind.

Through the rush of blood in his ears, he managed to take a slow, tremulous breath. He tried softly, “Levi.”

The fluffy ears atop Levi’s head perked up at the name. Relief washed down his spine, lapped at the fear that still remained clinging to his shoulders, and he took another slow breath. The initial shock of the discovery hadn’t faded yet; perhaps it would always be there, reinforced by the sight of tapered claws and sharpened teeth, but the gentle, enigmatic familiarity that was Levi would never fade. 

He glanced downwards towards the trap again. His stomach sank at the sight of the sickening indent where metal met the ankle, the skin rapidly bruising under it. He opened his mouth, a helpless noise leaving him, and clicked it shut before trying again, but he couldn’t speak past the tight clench of guilt that glued his throat shut. 

“Levi, I . . .” Eren held his breath. “I didn’t -” Weakly, he stepped forward, another growl ripping through the air, but he didn’t dare shy away. “Let me - let me get you out of there, at least.” He met Levi’s eye, ensnared by the deep abyss that analyzed every movement, and whispered, “Please, Levi.”

The grimace slipped right off his face, and in its stead was the same hopeless look of confusion as the one he wore when Eren admitted to wanting a kiss. He remained motionless when Eren approached him, eyes following every movement, naught but a soft grunt leaving him when Eren took a hold of the trap.

Eren fought to keep his hands steady. His heart pounded in his chest, his head spun, his breath caught in his throat, but nevertheless, he managed to disarm the trap. With one leg steadying the latch, Eren pulled the mouth open, and the moment the metal had parted from the skin, Levi scrambled away. He tried to rise to his feet, but he tripped and scurried back until he was pressed against a tree.

One of his ears twitched. While he had managed to maintain a relatively impassive expression, something bright and incredulous shone in his eyes. He breathlessly asked, “Why?”

Eren’s brow furrowed. “Why what?”

Levi watched closely as Eren settled down against the dirt on his knees, bringing them back to eye level. He curled in on himself further, asking again, “Why did you let me go?”

“Why did I . . . ?” Eren trailed off, hopelessly lost. He gestured vaguely, the sudden action bringing the slightest curl to Levi’s lip, and settled lamely, “Because it’s - it’s awful, Levi, it’s . . .”

“Awful,” Levi spat out lowly, “because we’ve met before, right? And somehow that’s the only thing that makes this awful, isn’t it, jackass?”

“That’s not what I -” He cut himself off with a frustrated hiss. “Levi, look, I just - I don’t know what I was expecting when I came out here, okay? All I knew was that there was something here, a creature or monster or _whatever_ , and it would eat whoever entered the forest or some bullshit like that. Or at least that’s what I thought I knew, but every single person I’ve talked to has a different story about it, and I didn’t know what to believe anymore.”

A breeze brushed past them. A few leaves skittered past, the branches high above them sighing as it passed. Eren spotted the tail that curled under one of Levi’s legs, thick and hopelessly fluffy. Glancing back upwards, he could still see the hesitance that weighed Levi’s shoulders, the blatant suspicion that melted into the air between them.

“I’m not here to - to _expose_ you, or to catch you, or - or any of that. I just. . . . I’m sorry.” 

Eren averted his gaze towards the lantern, watching as the flame danced. He wished it wasn’t so quiet. He wished he could hear something beyond his own steadily slowing heartbeat, beyond the whispers of the forest, beyond the twigs and leaves that crunched beneath him.

“I don’t.”

Eren glanced back upwards. Levi’s face had softened, his eyes once again shining a stunning silver, and finally, Eren could let go. He could relax, take in Levi for what he was, and yearn, as he always did, to lean in and kiss him. He recognized the oversized shirt that Levi wore, the stains on it, how small he looked drowning in it, how _perfect_ it was, and by God, Eren couldn’t breathe.

He prompted eagerly, “You don’t . . . ?”

“Eat people,” Levi answered. There was an air of hilarity in his tone, as if it were the most ludicrous thing he could have been accused of. “That wasn’t ever really my thing.”

Eren edged closer, looking for any sign of discomfort, but Levi never gave him one. “So . . . what actually happens to the people who come here at night?”

“Usually, nothing.” Levi rest back against the tree bark, head tilted back to reveal the smooth, tantalizing column of his throat, as if staring up at something that Eren could not hope to see. “I don’t fuck with people. If they’re lost, I get them to where they need to be. Whatever stupid-ass problems they get themselves into while they’re here isn’t my fault, either.”

“So the nights I came here. Were you . . . ?” Levi’s eyes flicked towards him, then quickly elsewhere, the discomfort in his demeanor strikingly guilty. Eren huffed, “You didn’t have to be a _creep_ about it, you know. You could have just walked with me.”

Levi clenched his jaw. He asked, “Like this?”

There was a slight strain in his voice. Eren glanced back down to his forearms, the claws that rest gently in his lap, the tail that he could see peeking out from behind his leg, and he confidently answered, “Yeah. Just like that.”

Eren later decided that the quick flash of Levi’s canines in his smile was, by far, the most breathtaking smile he’d ever received.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which levi is one big dumb puppy and eren aint even mad about it (aka: i realize now how sickeningly self-indulgent this entire fic is and I refuse to tone it down)
> 
> also, thanks for the support, everyone. i'm crying in the club rn y'all are so sweet :')

Armin tagged along with him to the river that day. They bounded down along the path, just like they used to, until he reached their favorite spot, and Eren, as always, was the first to jump in.

The water brought cool breath of relief washing over his skin, shielding him from the blazing summer sun overhead. The trees provided ample amounts of shade, but nothing could beat the water. For some time, they lounged in the water, with Armin searching for oddly-shaped rocks to add to his collection, until his phone rang from his rucksack nearby. Eren watched as he lifted himself out from the water and shook the water out of his hair before answering his phone. Judging by the cold, annoyed tone in which he regarded the person on the other end, it was time for him to leave.

Eren reassured him that it was all right. They could come back another day, perhaps shortly after the next deadline was met. It wouldn’t be the first time that Armin was the first to leave, nor would it be the first time that Eren stayed behind for a while longer. He sunk back into the heavenly embrace of the river as Armin left.

It felt like just yesterday that Eren first learned how to swim. It was Mikasa who taught him; she was extremely patient, while he only got steadily more frustrated, and Armin would laugh at him when he’d just flail helplessly in the water. It infuriated him at the time, and he ended up losing his skirt at some point, and he remembered thinking the day was spectacularly awful.

Now, he remembered it so fondly. Now, he could still hear Armin’s laugh, could still hear Mikasa’s encouraging words, could still feel the pride swell in his chest when he finally started to get the hang of it. He emerged from the water with a loud splash, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, and blearily, he saw that Levi was seated by the edge of the water.

Levi’s face remained enigmatic while Eren gaped, careless while Eren felt as if he couldn’t catch a breath. “Oh.” He abruptly stood up, water lapping at his waist. “Levi.”

He saw the way Levi’s gaze inevitably trailed down to the twin scars on his chest. He lingered for only a moment before he met Eren’s eyes once more, completely unphased, and said, “You’re loud. You scared away a deer just now.”

Eren let go of the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. It was Levi’s smooth voice teasing him that coaxed him out of the shell he didn’t know he’d shoved himself into. He rolled his eyes and said, “Sure, okay.”

He waded closer, planting his hands down at the ledge where a few tufts of grass replaced the sand. Looking up, he could see how Levi stared at his reflection in the water, his eyes bright, almost glassy in the sunlight. A few hairs fell over his eyes, an inky black that only highlighted how pale his skin was. He licked his lips, mouth inexplicably dry, and he met Levi’s questioning eye.

At the look Levi gave him, he blurted out, “Do you always look like that?”

His face burned at the tactless question. Levi’s expression was excruciatingly blank, but there was an amused huff in his voice when he asked in return, “Am I supposed to be offended?”

“No, you’re just. . . .” Eren pulled himself out of the water. He settled closer to Levi, and here, he could see how the sun shined in Levi’s eyes, how the bright silver had ignited into a near-white. “You’re stunning.” Regarding the splotchy bruises under Levi’s eyes, he quickly continued, “Do you ever sleep?  _ At all _ ?”

The lightest trace of a blush was evident on Levi’s cheekbones. He quirked a brow upwards, seemingly confused when he said, “Everyone sleeps.”

“Well, yeah, but . . . aren’t you, like, nocturnal or something?”

He bit his lip, a hum on his tongue, gaze shifting off in a mindless direction as if he genuinely needed to contemplate the question. He reluctantly admitted, “Technically.”

“Really? So, what, is this the equivalent of waking up in the middle of the night?” A satisfied grin spread across Eren’s lips. “Just for me?”

“Don’t push it,” Levi warned lowly.

Eren couldn’t stop the bright laugh that bubbled up in his chest. Levi made an effort to look upset, but it wasn’t difficult to tell that he was trying not to grin. There was a flutter in Eren’s chest that made him wonder, yearn,  _ crave _ . Crave to feel Levi’s lips again, crave to see more of him, crave to reveal everything that was hidden just beneath the surface.

He looked down to Levi’s hands, where there was only smooth, pale skin and neatly trimmed nails. Traces of red paint were evident at his knuckles, cracked and flaking off, where just a few nights before, the skin had been covered in black, sleek fur. It was almost romantic, how stupidly and classically fairytale-esque it was. Once the shock of it wore off, it only made him drastically more interested in this man than he already was.

Maybe it was dangerous, maybe it was a horrifically bad idea, but Eren really couldn’t care less.

Levi shifted uncomfortably. “What?”

Eren bit his lip. It didn’t occur to him how awful he was at this until he was seated there, mere inches away from Levi, from the man he’d unknowingly chased after, from the enigma he’d suddenly caught and somehow met again just a few days after. If it weren’t for the bandages that he could see wrapped tightly over Levi’s ankle, he might have been able to convince himself that it never happened. It was too surreal, too wild to be true, and he kept it to himself, as if uttering it aloud to another soul would make it disappear.

He eventually wondered aloud, “How do you always manage to look so perfect?”

He caught the way Levi’s breath stuttered, and it was exhilarating, knowing Levi had it just as bad as he did.

With the sting of bitter amusement, Levi asked, “You still think that?”

There was an unspoken line between them, a tension that was threatening to give in. Perhaps it should have only strengthened, seeing what he did the other night, knowing what Levi was - or _ wasn’t. _ But in the days that passed, in the nights he spent staring out his window, what he wanted was as simple as meeting again, just as it always was. And, of course, Levi sought him out as he always did and treated him no differently than before. That in itself was more comforting than it had the right to be.

“You’re you,” Eren said, lifting the weight that sat on his shoulders. “That’s all I really care about.”

“Flatterer,” Levi deadpanned, but the bite in his tone was largely gone, replaced instead by something exquisitely gentle.

Anticipation coiled in his gut when he imploringly suggested, “Do I get a kiss for complimenting you, then?”

It should have been a bad idea. It  _ was _ a bad idea. But every concern melted away when Levi, as smooth and light as he always had been, said, “Just the one.”

Eren’s eyes fluttered shut when Levi leaned in and pressed his lips against Eren’s in a soft kiss. It was ridiculously tantalizing for how chaste it was. There was the faintest touch of Levi’s his fingertips against his knee, feather-light and restricted, the feeling of it mind-numbingly surreal. He chased after Levi when he pulled away, and he could hear Levi’s sharp exhale with the next kiss, firmer than the last.

Levi murmured against his lips, “You’d get more if you just asked.”

Eren’s skin seared where Levi had rest his hand. He allowed Levi to pull away this time, painstakingly impatient when he asked, “How much more?”

It was mesmerizing, watching how quickly Levi’s pupils dilated, blown wide and predatory even in the daylight. Eren almost jumped when Levi suddenly lifted his feet from the water. He swung one leg over, seating himself in Eren’s lap, fingers coming up to curl under his chin.

He didn’t move any further. He sat, watched, waited as patiently ever, and Eren belatedly realized that it was a silent question of permission. There was something remarkably soothing in that alone - that somehow, despite being the thrilling center of Levi’s hungry attention, he had a firm root of control.

Eren closed the distance between them, the kiss slow and sweet, still so mind-numbingly surreal to him no matter how firmly he pressed his lips against Levi’s. He rested his hands on Levi’s hips, a necessary action, as if Levi would miraculously disappear if he were to let go. His heart was still racing even as Levi pulled away, the heat that pooled between his legs more torturous than that of the sun on their skin.

If Levi was also a mess, he didn’t show it; he gave Eren’s shoulders a light squeeze and told him softly, “I should go soon.”

Eren didn’t even bother trying to mask his pout. “ _ Now? _ ”

“There’s a painting I haven’t finished yet.”

“You know. . . .” Eren started, his teeth worrying at his lower lip. In his effort to avoid Levi’s eyes, he noticed the faint smears of green and yellow high on his forearms, carelessly wiped away with a cloth, most likely. “You haven’t shown me those paintings yet.”

Levi averted his gaze. He finally stood, patting the sand from his jeans. Eren prepared himself for the rejection, only to gape when Levi finally said, “Maybe sometime next week.”

“Wait -  _ really? _ ” Eren scrambled up to his feet as well. “You’ll show me?”

“They’re not all that special,” Levi tiredly murmured.

His first response was to shoot down the notion that Levi’s art was anything less than stellar, but with the way Levi had clenched his jaw shut, as if debating the consequences, he supposed that silence was preferable. Somehow, he felt as if he’d shoved himself back to square one, his voice stuck in the back of his throat while his mind raced with all the questions that begged to be asked.

The part of him that desperately craved to return to the blissful ignorance he once had wanted to call it a  _ date _ . He would happily claim it as such, were it not for the thick twist in his stomach of anticipation. He didn’t know what was more terrifying - the fact that his discovery only heightened his interest or that Levi was finally willing to let him in.

Eren watched as he started down the length of the river, finally finding it in himself to call out, “Can I come see you?”

_ At night _ lingered heavily in the air, implied only by the cautious tone in which he asked. A few moments passed before Levi said, “Sure.”

He sounded tentative, almost as if he was unsure of his own answer.

* * *

Eren had been editing a photo of a bird that he’d taken some time ago when Armin said, “You never told me what you found the other night.”

He almost had the audacity to be surprised by the prompt, but he supposed that after several days of radio silence on the matter, it was about time that it was brought up. He looked up to where Armin was seated cross-legged in his chair, his tablet balanced between his knees. One hand had reached up to idly tug at his hair.

Outside the living room window, he could see the thin, wispy clouds that littered the sky, slowly thickening as the hours dragged on. Something curled in the pit of his stomach, lurching with anticipation at the thought of nightfall, and he offered a heavy shrug.

“A coyote,” Eren said. At the exasperated look that Armin threw his way, he demanded, seemingly scandalized, “What? You don’t believe me?”

“A coyote scared you that night,” Armin deadpanned, more of a statement than a question.

Eren held his breath, then hissed out, “With  _ rabies _ .” 

Armin pursed his lips, extremely dissatisfied with the answer, but he didn’t push any further. There was the undeniable ache of guilt that Eren recognized, gnawing at him at the back of his mind, but no matter what explanation he came up with, his jaw remained clenched shut.

* * *

Long after the sun had set over the horizon, Eren emerged from his bedroom. He spotted Armin on the couch, his blankets bunched up under his chin and glasses pushed haphazardly off his face by the material. The banter and laugh track from what Armin left on when he’d fallen asleep masked the soft creak of the front door being nudged open.

The moonlight illuminated the river, glittering against its tranquil surface. Eren took a few photos like he’d been meaning to; he stood by the edge of the river, scrutinizing each photo he took, the moon above him bright and all-encompassing, until the cacophony of the wildlife around him quickly faded. The silence was still ominous, and he was still keenly aware of the gentle, impassive sway of the trees as the night crawled on, but nevertheless, he turned to look into the void behind him.

Levi had emerged from between the trees soon after. Eren lowered his camera, watching as Levi slowly stepped forward, as his claws chipped the bark of the tree he brushed his hand against on his way out into the sandy clearing. 

There was a part of him that acknowledged the gnawing dread that wormed its way into his gut. There was a part of him that  _ knew _ , through the deafening silence and through the predatory way in which Levi slunk out from the trees, that he was perhaps straying too close to the sun, drawn too eagerly to the flame. That dread coalesced with a curious thrill as he saw those impossibly bright eyes glance down at his hands, then back up to his face with a slight tilt of the head.

With an edge to his tone, he asked, “Why the camera?”

“I was just taking pictures of the river!” Eren quickly shut his camera off, letting it go to rest in its holster. “I’ve been meaning to, anyways.”

Levi seemed dissatisfied with the answer, but he still crept closer, each footstep painstakingly loud in the silence. The shirt he wore was as comically oversized as every other, V neck dipping deliciously low over his chest, but it lacked any traces of paint. The moon shined exquisitely bright against Levi’s skin and in his eyes. It was breathtaking, how bright the silver glowed, how pale his skin was, accentuated more by the moon than it ever had been by the sun. 

He briefly wondered just how ethereal Levi would become, swallowed in the light of a full moon. The idea was dangerously alluring, calling to him like a moth to a flame.

Levi led him back into the forest. He stumbled over the underbrush, struggling to follow Levi through a particularly rough thicket, until they reached a clearing. The moon shone through the canopy in small patches, and leading from that canopy was a thin passageway through the trees, unobstructed and laden with smooth, cool grass. It was ethereal, watching the sway of the moonlight as the wind passed through the leaves high above them, as if he’d somehow stepped foot into a fairytale.

“There’s a lot you don’t see until the sun sets,” Levi said. He had stepped closer, nearly brushing against Eren, his tone hushed. “What were you really looking for?”

“I told you - the legend,” he responded. He snorted, then added, “well, sort of. You’ve heard of it, right?”

“Monster that eats kids? Something that hunts people who get lost in here?” Levi shrugged. “It’s hilarious in its own shitty way.”

Gradually, the forest awakened around them. It was as if the forest watched how closely Levi walked with him, as if it knew that he was no longer prowling on a hunt. A weight he didn’t realize was sat upon his shoulders lifted, and he looked over to Levi, who was staring up through the canopy.

He could almost remember how soft Levi’s lips were against his the other day. He had chased that feeling, relished in it when he had it, and all he could do when it was gone was yearn for more. He ached to reach out, to run his fingers through his hair, into the tufts of fur that sprouted from the base of his ears.

“Levi?”

Both ears atop of Levi’s head immediately perked, and just a second later came his low, smooth hum of acknowledgement. The ache only worsened at the sight.

“Have you always lived here?”

“No.” They approached two gnarled roots that obstructed their path. Levi climbed over it with ease, claws scraping against the bark, continuing as he gestured Eren over, “I came here when I was younger. Lived with my uncle for awhile.”

“Where were you before?”

“I don’t remember.”

Upon seeing him struggle, Levi offered his hand. Eren hesitated for a moment before he took it. Just over the roots was another clearing, moonlight shining bright through the patchy canopy above, a few wildflowers lining the bases of the trees on the outskirts. Eren immediately reached for his camera, but he stopped halfway, allowing it to slip back into its holster.

He glanced over to Levi, who only tilted his head over to the clearing with an expectant gleam in his eyes. He shrugged and said, “I thought you would’ve liked it.”

Eren found the sentiment ridiculously sweet. He took his next few photos in leisure, listening to the calls of the wildlife around him, and not once did Levi interrupt him. He’d almost lost himself in the clearing, entranced by the wildflowers that stood perfectly in place and the shine of the moonlight that laid a glittering patchwork against the grass. He knew he’d spend hours with these photos some time later, editing and obsessing until he was content. 

Finally satisfied with the pictures he took, he turned to look towards Levi, who had leaned back against a tree in the meantime. A few patches of moonlight swayed against Levi’s skin. When Eren approached, he saw how wide his pupils had dilated, nearly overshadowing the silver of his irises. A flush crept up Eren’s neck.

He set his camera back into its holster. “What?”

“You’re fun to watch,” Levi answered.

His tone was light, almost nonchalant, but nothing could mask the hunger that lurked in his eyes. Eren asked him, equally as flippant, “ _ Just _ fun? Nothing else on your mind?”

Levi gave him a slow, unapologetic once-over, pupils blown wide enough to swallow him whole. “Why don’t you come over here and find out?”

Eren stepped closer, his heart racing under the predatory gaze that Levi pinned him with, until he was close enough to reach out and touch him. He felt oddly trapped, ensnared by Levi’s eyes and grounded by the hands that slid over his hips, both thrilling and terrifying in their own way. Levi tilted his head upwards, an ear twitching curiously, and Eren closed the distance between them. 

Levi’s lips were soft against his own, so blissfully divine in how perfectly they moved with one another. Levi bit at his lower lip, tugging ever so lightly, and Eren took the invitation to deepen the kiss. He pressed closer, hips flush against Levi’s, the fingertips that nudged just under the hem of his shirt intoxicatingly thrilling. Levi was the first to break away, trailing off to press open-mouthed kisses down along his jaw.

Eren felt the barest hint of teeth against his neck. Levi sounded strained,  _ hungry _ , his words ghosting over Eren’s skin, “Your heart’s racing.” Levi pulled away - an act of mercy, really - the faint scrape of his nails trailing delicately up Eren’s shirt electrifying. “You’re not even the one caged in here.”

Eren let out a breathless laugh. “That’s what you think?”

“Not really, no,” Levi hummed, pressing another kiss to his neck, “but I like the effort.”

He let go of where he had dug his nails into the tree bark and instead threaded his fingers through Levi’s hair. He gave in to the urge and scratched lightly at the backs of Levi’s ears. Immediately, Levi stopped, tensing with a soft groan, “Fuck. . . .”

Curiously, Eren applied more pressure, running his thumb lightly through the tuft of fur at its base. Levi let out a low, drawn-out whine, nuzzling against his neck as he continued to scratch. Eren relished in the embrace that they melted into, delightfully fond of his discovery, and for a while, he listened to Levi’s slow, heavy breaths against his skin.

“You know what I hate about the big city?” At Levi’s faint hum, he continued, “You can’t see the stars out there.”

“Bullshit,” Levi murmured firmly.

“No, really! It’s also  _ never _ quiet.”

A gust of wind brushed through the trees, sending the moonlit patches dancing across the clearing. In the silence between them, ignoring the smooth whispers of the forest that surrounded them, Eren thought back to the book Armin showed him before. While it wasn’t exactly odd that a town legend was inflated to such a drastic degree, there was still the mystery of how, exactly, it originated - and how Erwin had a story to tell that wasn’t rooted solely on rumors and exaggerations. 

He tilted his head lower, the fur at the tips of Levi’s ears tickling his nose, and asked in a low whisper, “How much of the legend is true?”

“A lot of it happened before I came here.” Levi trailed his hands down to Eren’s hips, fingers tapping lightly against him as he said, “I recognize some of it. Back when my uncle was alive. Shitty guy, sometimes, but he was nice enough to me. He had nothing better to do than to fuck with the people who wandered out at night.”

“So about the sacrifices. . . .”

“Sacrifices?” Levi let out a derisive snort. “I don’t know anything about that. What I do know is that he liked to hunt and leave it for the townsfolk to clean up. And that was years ago. Decades, probably.” The tapping on Eren’s hip ceased, followed by a low grumble, “I at least have half the mind to lock myself up when the full moon comes by.”

Eren bit his lip. “What does that make you, then?”

“Fuck if I know,” Levi answered with a lazy shrug. “Call me what you want. All I know is that I usually turn into  _ this _ when the moon comes out, and whatever reputation Kenny’s got makes hiding easier than it already is.”

The implication of what would happen under a full moon brought a sharp, thrilling chill down his spine. He stopped scratching for a few moments to carefully ask, “During the full moon, do you. . . ?”

Levi pushed up against his hand. He sounded impatient when he griped, “Why do I feel like this is an interview?”

Eren took that as a yes. He continued scratching, allowing Levi to melt into him once more, some odd mixture of dread and excitement boiling in the pit of his stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some of the NSFW* content is finally here! I apologize in advance :))) tags have been updated, so make sure to check them out just in case. 
> 
> *** Eren is trans and I will be using feminine terminology when referring to his genitals. Read at your own discretion. ***

A long time ago, Eren would hang his photographs up in his room. They would be stuck to the walls with multi-colored thumb tacks in no particular order, with the subject of each photo seemingly chosen at random; a bug, a flower, a rock that protruded from the shallow end of the river, even a few leaves that floated delicately along the surface of the water. They were his most prized possessions when he was younger, even the ones that were riddled with imperfections. 

It’d been years since he’d last thought about them. Hell, it’d been years since he’d ever picked up a camera at his own leisure. He vaguely wondered when he’d stopped taking photos of whatever he deemed aesthetically pleasing - or rather, when it had stopped being a pleasure and instead became a chore. 

It wasn’t that he wasn’t granted the freedom to explore the limits of each project he was given; the problem was rooted more deeply in the fact that the origins of his affinity for photography went by almost completely forgotten over the years. 

And somehow, Levi just _knew_. Somehow, as if he knew what Eren had been missing, he led them deeper into the forest and pointed out all of his favorite landmarks. It was at a stop near a patch of wildflowers that Eren, against his better judgement, decided to take a photo of Levi while he was occupied. Levi had been crouched down near a tree stump, a finger tracing the stem of a thin, blue wildflower, the sunlight bright in his eyes.

Eren thought back to the fur that would cover his forearms, the claws that frequently caught on the barks of trees as he passed, the silver of his eyes in the moonlight. He didn't know if he loved or hated how ridiculously dreamlike it was.

They had stopped at a fallen log when Levi had started to tap his foot insistently against the ground. Sunlight shone on the log, highlighting the moss that covered its weathered surface, and Eren had taken the time to capture the image with stunning clarity. Regardless, the tapping caught his attention; Levi wasn’t one to grow impatient. Rather, he appeared to be apprehensive, staring off past the log through the trees as if focused on something. 

Camera still ready in his hands, Eren asked, “What’s up?”

Quietly, nearly imperceptible through the birdcalls in the branches high above, he heard Levi say, “You said you wanted to see my paintings sometime.”

Eren lowered his camera. Unable to mask his excitement, he laughed, “That was your plan, then?” He crossed his arms over his chest, continuing as Levi regarded him with a skeptical look, “Lure me out into the forest and then snatch me away?”

The corner of Levi’s lip pulled up into a crooked grin for a brief moment. Then, he scowled, “Actually, there’s a cub over there. You’re on your own now.”

Eren’s lower lip protruded in an exaggerated pout. “You’d leave me out here, all alone?”

“Innocent works well on you when you don’t fuck it up so bad,” Levi snorted.

Levi ignored the indignant noise that Eren made, stalking off towards the small gap between the trees that was unobstructed by the log. One hand came up to lay against the bark of a tree as he glanced over his shoulder, a silent urge to move onward, fingers sliding off harmlessly in the absence of claws. Eren was keenly aware of how often they’d chip the surfaces they came across, and yet not once had Levi shown the same carelessness when handling him.

He wondered how they’d feel, running along his skin, leaving smooth, weeping ribbons in their wake. Perhaps if it was nighttime, if it was deathly quiet, if the forest had somehow mistaken this for a hunt than a visit, Levi could catch the way Eren’s heart raced at the idea.

Gradually, the canopy thinned, a few low-hanging branches lining what appeared to be an exit. A vague outline of a dirt path, obstructed by underbrush and littered with dead leaves, led to the small cabin hidden largely by a patch of trees. To the left, the path stretched further, leading towards the faint sound of rushing water.

The floorboards creaked terribly as they ascended the steps. Were it not for spotless windows and the evidence of recently trimmed vines hanging off the side of the porch, Eren might have assumed it had been abandoned. The door trembled on its hinges when it was nudged open.

The interior, for the most part, was barren; a sofa had been pressed up against one wall just under a large window, curtainless and locked shut. Only a few steps from that was the kitchenette, its countertops spotless, the other window above the sink as empty as the first had been. It was the bright sunlight that shone through the windows that Eren noticed the jagged claw marks that littered the walls in some areas, concentrated mostly along the hallway underneath the loft.

“It’s not much,” Levi told him, as if an apology, something apprehensive lingering in his tone.

It was then that Eren finally laid his eyes on the corner to his right. First, he spotted the rack that had been pressed up against one wall, filled with a mesmerizing assortment of paints. Then he saw the easel, as decrepit as anything else in the cabin had been, dutifully displaying a painting that had been completed recently.

The light blue of the river melted into a deep navy at its edges, leading into the unmistakable green and yellow of the underbrush, melded impeccably together with what he recognized as the telltale strokes of fingertips. As he stepped closer, he could see each smudge, each blotch of paint, each careful stroke that Levi had poured countless hours of dedication into.

Each bend of the river had been crafted masterfully with through the curves of Levi’s fingertips, each tuft of grass and batch of leaves marking both skin and cotton alike, each highlight of sunlight a splendid delicacy that graced every surface it touched - on every canvas, either hung along the wall or left in a neat stack underneath the window, there was the same enigmatic elegance that Eren could only ever attribute to Levi. 

Each painting of long, winding rivers and tall, impassive trees served as a collective window of their own, shining onto Levi as the sun shone into his cabin. Just behind the easel, there was a bold orange sunset that melted into the mouth of the river in a splash of indigo and navy blue, framed only by the splotchy silhouettes of trees and bushes.

On the windowsill, there were a few rags, hopelessly stained with the spectrum that Levi had breathed into his paintings and smeared on his own skin. There had always been traces of paint on Levi’s shirts, his knuckles, the creases of his fingernails, all leading Eren to these canvases as those gashes against the trees had led him to Levi that night.

There was nothing he could say in the wake of the many paintings that Levi had laid out for him, his mind filled with naught but whispers of the forest, coated blissfully in hues of green and yellow. It was the small clang of Levi adjusting one of the paint buckets on the rack that knocked Eren out of it, each thought rushing into his mind as the water rushed through the river.

Eren released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “So.” He looked over to Levi, who pinned him with an inscrutable look. “This means you’re ready to let me in, then?”

“That’s a pretty obvious question,” Levi deadpanned.

Many paintings lined the wall, illuminating that side of the cabin with bright, stunning colors, almost more so than the sunlight. Vaguely, Eren was reminded of his own photography career when he was younger - the many photos he’d stuck to the walls, the proudest ones that he hung over his bed, the empty film canisters that lay scattered about. He stepped closer to the easel, aching to reach out to the lumps of paint that were raised from the cotton where the underbrush was most dense.

“How long?”

Although the mask Levi wore remained impassive, he tentatively said, “When I came here.” A small huff left his lips. “Kenny didn’t know how else to keep a kid entertained.”

“But that isn’t all this is,” Eren insisted. Levi avoided his gaze, a guilty habit of his that only proved Eren right. He nudged further, “What is it with you, then?”

“I just like painting, you brat.” Levi crossed his arms over his chest, then admitted, “Brushes were always too constricting. Canvases are, too, but Kenny would’ve snapped my neck if I started painting the walls, so they stayed.” He looked down to the canvases propped up against what Eren assumed were the rejects. His voice lowered to a soft murmur as he said, “They aren’t creative. They aren’t new or special. But they’re _mine_ , and I made them because I _wanted_ to, and I can’t say that for much else. That’s something I can be proud of.”

In one painting, a deer stood tall amongst the grass, its lower body hidden largely by the leaves that fell from the trees it stood near. Eren could see each stroke the closer he approached it, every thoughtful swipe and press of Levi’s fingertips that graced the canvas, the precision of its brown and grays leaving absolutely no room for error.

“You’re really something,” he breathed out.

Levi snorted. “Is that a good thing?”

“More than good.” With a cheeky smirk, he wistfully asked, “Say, if I asked you to paint something that reminded you of me, what would you paint?”

The low, smooth hum that accompanied Levi’s heavy gaze sent Eren’s blood rushing hotter than it should have. “Something like a caramel sunset. But I don’t think I want to paint it on a canvas.” The abyss of his pupils beckoned Eren forward, the allure of them seemingly impossible to resist. Levi welcomed him gladly, reaching out to rest his hands on Eren’s hips, continuing in a near purr, “You’d look good in yellow and brown. Like the sunlight on your skin.”

Eren relished in how delicately Levi’s fingertips pressed against his hips, the action probably impossible to do without injury were it not for the daylight. He thought back to the pointed canines that Levi still possessed, urging gently, “What else would you want to see on me?”

Levi didn’t miss the hint; his eyes lingered on Eren’s collar, trailed down the length of his torso, the unmistakable strain of hunger in his tone when he asked, “Am I restricted to paint?”

“Not at all.”

Eren met Levi halfway, tugged forwards by the fingers that hooked into his jeans, the kiss backed by a heat that had his head spinning before long. He ran his fingers through Levi’s hair, and with the blatant, needy urge for more, he tightened his grip and pulled. It was a silent question, one begging to be answered, and it paid off nicely; Levi sighed against his lips before pressing back against him, almost as rough as he craved it to be.

Eren toyed with the hem of Levi’s shirt. He tugged at it just enough for Levi to break away from the kiss to pull it up over his shoulders and haphazardly toss it aside. Eren’s heart raced when Levi then pulled him along and shoved him back against the door, the noise of it rattling on its hinges drowned out by the blood that rushed in his ears. The teeth that tugged at his lower lip urged him to kiss back just as roughly. 

It was intoxicating, how easily Levi handled him, how boldly Levi pressed their hips together. He ran his hands down Levi's torso, tracing the outline of a particularly gnarled scar that stretched out across his stomach, the urge to touch and feel every inch of his skin hungry, desperate.

A needy sound melted into the kiss when Levi started to clumsily fiddle with the button of his jeans until it was tugged loose. Levi pulled away, only to press a kiss to the crook of his neck, progressing upwards to nip just below his jawline. Eren jumped at the feeling, and Levi's fingers halted where they had dipped below his waistband.

He asked softly, "Too much?"

"No," Eren breathlessly laughed. "Just didn't expect it."

Heat pooled between his legs at the next nip against his skin, barely there, the sensation tantalizing. He almost voiced his impatience until Levi had dripped his fingers lower, through his slick folds and then back up again to press against his clit. His breath caught in the back of his throat at the slow, deliberate circles that Levi ground against him, the bruise that had been sucked onto his skin only adding to the pleasure that built. 

Eren nudged one knee between Levi's thighs, and Levi bit at his neck again, only a tad bit rougher than the last. He seemed hesitant, restricted, as if he wasn't sure how to ask for more. All Eren could do was crave for something harder, _deeper_ ; experimentally, he weaved his fingers through Levi's hair and yanked harshly. The strangled moan that caught in the back of Levi's throat was more than enough encouragement.

Eren was undoubtedly tentative, but nonetheless, he demanded, "Harder." Thrillingly enough, Levi obeyed, the next bite stinging in a blissful way that made him hiss. "Harder," he urged, and he could hear the way Levi's breath shuddered, could feel how painfully hard he was. "Like you mean it."

Levi moved lower, tugged at his collar to accommodate, and bit hard enough to force a groan from him. It sent pain blossoming through Eren's skin and straight down to the heat between his legs, and he rolled his hips against Levi's fingers, a wordless plea on his lips. Levi quickened his pace, the pressure on his clit deliciously mind-numbing. He pushed his knee up further, pleased with how willingly Levi moved with him, how shamelessly Levi ground down against him. Eren brokenly whined at the next bite, white-hot and merciless, and Levi's grinding against his knee became more fervent, more urgent.

He reached down to undo the button on Levi's own trousers, letting out a frustrated huff at the fruitless fumbling, until he finally managed to tug it loose. Something close to a purr resonated from Levi's chest when Eren pulled him out, not quite a growl, and briefly, with a hot thrill, Eren thought of claws, of fur, of fangs that would sink into his neck come nightfall. 

He lazily pumped Levi's cock in his hand, a different sort of craving emerging in his gut, mind hazy from the heat that pooled between his thighs. Levi emerged for a kiss, and Eren could feel the desperation in it, in the way their teeth clacked and lips slotted messily together. At the next bite and careless tug on his lip, Eren couldn't hold it together; his hand faltered, a sharp cry leaving his lips, their breaths coalescing as he rode out his high.

Eren felt how Levi had dipped his fingers low as he came, pressing almost reverently against his entrance, and he heard Levi's faint, needy moan, somehow sending his blood rushing hotter than it already was. He only realized that he'd stopped moving when Levi's slicked fingers came up to meet his. He followed Levi's lead, squeezing in a way that had Levi pressing his forehead against his shoulder.

It was almost surreal, listening to Levi's broken groan when he came; part of him almost didn't want to let Levi go, as if doing so would allow him to miraculously disappear. Eren saw the faint tint of red on Levi's cheeks when he pulled away from his shoulder, the sight almost as flattering as the smooth glisten on his lower lip. He watched as those stunning eyes trailed down to the marks he no doubt had peeking out just above his collar.

He trailed a hand along Eren's collar, remarkably gentle against the marks there. The rough bite of his voice brought a chill down Eren's spine when he purred, "Come see me tonight."

The heat in his gut stirred once more when Levi curled his fingers loosely around his throat. He huffed out, "Where?"

"Wherever you want." The kiss Levi pressed against his lips was unbelievably soft. If it weren't for the ache of his collar and the stickiness of his own fingers, Eren might have thought it was a dream. Levi's breath ghosted over his lips when he reassured, "Doesn't matter to me.”

* * *

Eren had never been good with anticipation. It felt like it had been forever ago that Levi invited him to his cabin and the sun still hadn’t begun to set. He supposed that was the curse of summer; longer days and, unfortunately for him, a longer wait.

He laid back against the arm of the couch, sinking down into the pillows that Armin had thrown at him some time ago, the tablet on his lap forgotten. He stared up at the ceiling, focused only on the music that Armin had playing in the background, thrumming gently from the speaker that had been set above the fireplace. He didn’t know where Armin had run off to, but he caught the creak of the staircase when he returned.

Armin plopped down on the couch across from him, his camera held in his hands. It was a given at this point - it always had been, ever since Eren first landed himself with a decent camera. Except Armin had never gasped out, “Eren? Did you meet a guy and not tell me anything?”

Oh. Eren had forgotten about that. He sat upright, the forgotten tablet slipping off his thigh and onto the carpet. He wasn’t sure what to say - he could only stare as Armin turned the camera, as if he needed a reminder of the picture he took of Levi when they ventured into the forest, the look on his face oddly expectant.

“How’d you meet him?” He asked excitedly.

Eren settled back down against the pillows. He supposed Armin finding out was a given, yet he still cursed himself for not formulating some painfully average story to tell him when the need arose. But with how brightly Armin’s eyes lit up, he couldn’t find it in himself to lie - or rather, stretch the truth enough to conceal Levi’s ties to the forest.

“When I went into the forest that first day,” Eren told him. “He’s an artist. He paints the forest, mostly.”

“An artist finds another artist, and somehow they fall for each other. How . . .” Armin stared down at the camera again, then concluded with a snort, “ _romantic_.”

Eren, unfathomably thankful for the lack of questions, still rolled his eyes. “Don’t even start with that.”

One song melted into the next. It was soothingly slow, delicate in the atmosphere. He retrieved the tablet from where it had fallen, the editing software still open with an image that he had left largely untouched from his inability to focus. Over the music, he heard Armin prompt, “Hey, Eren? I’ve got to ask you. . . .”

He saw that Armin had set the camera aside. “What?”

“It’s probably not that deep, but,” Armin bit his lip, then tentatively asked him, “what happens when summer ends?”

The music slowly faded away, replaced only by the thump of Eren’s heart against his ribcage. The same hopeless sink in his stomach emerged, just as it had the night he ventured into the forest to inspect the traps he laid out. But as he looked out towards the forest, where he could only ever yearn for the tranquility of his picture taking and the alluringly enigmatic nature of what Levi was, the pit in his stomach faded just a bit.

The next song had already ended when Eren responded, “I guess I’ll just have to figure that out when the time comes.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that,” Armin laughed, the sound bright enough to lift the weight that had unknowingly settled on Eren’s shoulders. “What’s his name, anyways? I can’t say I’ve seen him around Shiganshina.”

“Levi,” Eren carefully told him.

“Huh. Levi?” He let out a thoughtful hum. “That rings a bell. Erwin’s talked about a Levi before. Think they’re the same person?”

For a moment, Eren’s mind blanked, and then he thought back to the day he met Erwin at the library. He thought back to that small, knowing smile, how soothingly Erwin told him to investigate the forest, how confident he was in the information he held, as if it were all facts. Of course he knew - he _knew_ , this entire time, and somehow, the idea of someone else knowing Levi’s secret, the core of his _identity_ , was as terrifying as it was thrilling.

Eren would have to delve deeper sometime later. He wasn’t sure which was more exciting - the idea of confronting Erwin once more for answers or the beginnings of sunset that bled into the sky outside their window.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy holidays & new year, folks. 2020 better be hella or I want my money back.
> 
> Tags have been updated again! Read at your own discretion :))))

The moon hung high in the sky, a shadow laid thickly over a majority of its face, cradled delicately in the stars that surrounded it. Its light glittered against the surface of the river, bounced off the rocks that protruded from the water, as lively and vibrant as the forest around him. Eren briefly considered bringing his camera earlier, vague hopes of capturing a night sky unobstructed by the canopy, but he ultimately decided against it.

After awhile, the forest quieted, watching closely as Eren came to a gradual stop with a glance over his shoulder. It was oddly exhilarating, how Levi had always managed to find him, seemingly an inevitability despite the vastness of the forest and the length of the river; he supposed that was what Levi meant by claiming where Eren decided to enter the forest wouldn’t matter. 

Barely concealed by the thick, unending void of the forest, he heard Levi say nearby, “I thought you’d choose the river.”

Eren watched as he stalked forwards into the moonlit path. He cheekily asked, “Think I should have went through one of the hiking trails instead?”

“To give me hell trying to find you?”

“No!” Just somewhere more . . .” Eren gestured vaguely towards the water, the wide, open space that it filled. “Secluded.”

“Oh?” Levi’s voice was low, deliciously silvery, accentuated by the silence. “What do you think will happen where you’ll have to worry about someone seeing?” 

Suspiciously thin stains of red marred the collar of his shirt, the deep V-neck dipping as tantalizingly low over his chest as it always had. The smile he wore was nearly imperceptible even under the moonlight, yet it was still so sinuously enticing, almost more so than the ears that curiously tipped his way. 

There was a boldness that accompanied the slow build up of the forest reawakening around them. He stepped forwards, hooked a finger over Levi’s damnably low collar, and eased him readily forwards. His breath stuttered at the back of his throat when he felt the sharp, chilling sensation of claws ghosting over his collar. Levi seemed fixated on that spot, knowing what lay under the cloth, most likely yearning to both marvel at the marks he’d left and add a few more.

Eren ached to back Levi into a tree nearby, to somehow make him feel just as ensnared and captivated as he did. He murmured lowly, “I’m not all that worried about other people.”

The abyss of Levi’s eyes swallowed him as wholly and unapologetically as the thick void of the forest did. With the faintest hint of strain, Levi said, “I was never really much of an exhibitionist, you know.”

With a fleeting pinprick of regret, Eren let him go, oddly breathless when he laughed, “Lead the way, then.”

One ear twitched, something like vague surprise flashing on his countenance before he started down the river. A fleeting glance back upwards towards the starry sky had Eren reaching for his camera at his hip, almost instinctual, before he dimly realized yet again that he’d left it behind.

Levi noticed the action, and he mused, “I don’t think I’ve seen you without a camera yet.”

“I usually have it with me,” Eren laughed. The forest seemed to fully awaken around him in the wake of the sound, the distant cries of wildlife muddling with the sound of rushing water. “Especially when I was younger. It was basically a part of me at that point.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

The question was surprisingly confrontational. It was yet another instance where Eren dimly realized that for the first time in a long while, he’d held his camera with him simply for the pleasure of photographing the city and the forest, without any sort of deadline or requirements to restrict him. With an odd distaste, as if biting on tin, he wondered how easily he’d slip back into old habits in the city, how long his needs would go by unfulfilled with each passing month.

“I guess so,” Eren offered lamely. 

Levi seemed to sidle closer to him as he said, “I can’t imagine that.” At Eren’s questioning hum, he elaborated, “You mentioned weddings and birthdays. And a _portfolio_. That’s mind numbing. And constricting. It’s like asking me to paint portraits of shit people who give an even shittier pay.”

Eren thought of his portfolio, how painfully professional and pristine it was, how disgustingly stark the contrast was to the several photos he’d stockpiled in the weeks he’d spent back in Shiganshina. “It’s not really worth it,” he murmured. “Is it?”

“I wouldn’t say so.” Levi sounded inexplicably exhausted when he said, “Kenny used to try and get me to sell my paintings. For himself, probably - he liked gambling. But he never did hold it against me.”

Every new bit of information that Eren had yet to hear from Levi was strikingly intoxicating. He yearned to hear more, to listen to any and every story Levi could have to offer, the interest he took in it almost as wistful as it was when they’d first met. He prompted, “You talk about your uncle a lot.”

Levi shrugged. “What else do I talk about? I’ve lived a boring-ass life.”

“Everyone’s life is boring.”

Eren was delighted by the fleeting huff that his response elicited. “You’re right about that,” Levi said. “You also never talk about your family.”

“My parents are divorced,” Eren admitted with a lifeless laugh. “That’s usually a conversation killer.”

“I don’t mean blood if you don’t.”

“My childhood friend and my adoptive sister,” Eren told him, just barely audible over the lively symphony of the forest. “They’ve always been there. No matter what.”

Through the stupid one-day fights they’d have when they were younger, through him coming out, through the divorce and him inevitably moving out with his father and adoptive sister to a city so far away; they were always there, together, the three of them. Mikasa had no choice, given that they lived together - but she only ever grew with him, clamoring on through life willingly by his side. Leaving for a prestigious university so far away from home seemed as crushing to her as it was liberating.

Levi nodded, nothing but understanding on his demeanor, and something delicately fond fleetingly washed through Eren’s chest. He noticed that Levi had been staring up at the sky, towards the slim face of the moon, oddly transfixed by its appearance. The moonlight made his skin look alluringly pale, almost ethereal, highlighting the stark contrast between the pallid skin of his forearms and the dark fur that surrounded his wrists and the backs of his hands. Eren ached to reach forward and intertwine his fingers with Levi’s.

“What?” Eren glanced up from Levi’s hand and met with the brilliant silver eyes that had turned to him. Levi pointed out, “You look like you want to say something.”

There was nothing that came to mind for him to say. Instead, there was the ache he’d grown familiar with, the urge that had him reaching forwards, unprompted, to take Levi’s hand in his.

Levi tensed, but as Eren brought him closer, he only tastelessly said, “Oh.”

It seemed unnatural to him, somehow, a foreign touch that he still had to get used to. There was tension Levi’s his shoulders that made Eren debate letting go, but Levi never pulled away. As they approached a bend in the river, he finally relaxed, something close to wonder sparking in those stunning eyes of his.

Eren briefly wondered if anyone had ever held his hand - if anyone had shown any bit of intimacy outside of sex. He felt like a stupid kid again, like he was back in middle school holding hands with his first boyfriend, walking with this giddy rush that he couldn’t get enough of. It almost made him laugh.

Levi eventually asked, “They don’t bother you?”

Eren didn’t need to ask what he’d meant - he felt the sharp edges of the claws that rest against his skin, thoughtfully light and delicate over the back of his own hand. He bit his lip, then shamefully admitted, “I like them.” Levi’s grip tightened just the slightest bit, his claws pressing harmlessly against his skin. “I really . . . _really_ like them.”

“How much?” 

Levi’s voice had lowered into a silvery murmur that made Eren’s heart race. “More than I should.”

“Enough to let me run them along your skin?” Levi’s other hand came up to trail along Eren’s forearm. The tips of his claws pressed ever so gently against his skin, fingers stopping to curl just below the bend of his elbow. “Mark you up in more ways than one? Deep enough to let you feel it after you’ve left?”

Eren barely bit back the whine that threatened to escape from where it emerged high in the back of his throat. It’s like Levi _knew_ \- knew how quickly that tantalizing heat would pool between Eren’s legs, knew how badly it made him _want_. He heard how sharply Levi inhaled, how delicately his breath left his lips afterwards, the fact that he could smell the arousal more enticing than it had the right to be.

“How much longer?” Eren demanded, his impatience clear and strikingly unapologetic.

The traces of a rumbling growl pulled at the edges of Levi’s words when he said, “If you didn’t really look, you wouldn’t realize that we’re here.”

The entrance was largely hidden by several low-hanging branches and the invasive leaves of the underbrush that stretched out across the path. Levi only pulled him along, weaving through the underbrush and under the branches in a way that had Eren marveling yet again at how naturally the navigation came to him. 

The minute the door closed behind him, Levi’s lips were on his, hands reaching low to yank him forwards by the hips. He ground their hips together, slow and deliberate, a hint of teeth finding its way into the kiss as well. It was mesmerizing, the way their lips slotted messily together, how quickly he felt Levi’s cock harden and strain against him with each teasing nip.

He clumsily unbuttoned Levi’s trousers, dipped below the waistband, and pulled his cock out of the confining material. Levi sighed into the kiss, the small thrust forwards into Eren’s hand encouragement enough for Eren to stroke and squeeze in a way he knew Levi liked. It wasn’t long before Levi broke away from the kiss, tugging insistently on the hem of Eren’s shirt until he finally pulled it over his head. 

Levi’s hands left his skin searing where they pressed against his waist, trailing slowly upwards, lingering there as he coaxed Eren backwards. The cool wooden surface of the ladder leading up into the loft pressed against Eren’s back. He jumped a little at the feeling and let out a laugh as he glanced upwards towards the loft. Levi took the opportunity to press an open-mouthed kiss against the smooth column of his throat. 

“That’s inconvenient, isn’t it?” Eren muttered.

Levi shrugged, his growl hot against Eren’s skin, “Fucking awful, but what can you do?”

Levi’s hands made their way down to his ass. It was an exhilaratingly possessive action, groping and grinding his hips forward, especially when paired with the lips that sucked a small, faint bruise on his skin. Before Eren could start teasing, Levi let go, the hunger in his eyes a heavy weight on Eren’s back as he climbed up the ladder and into the loft.

The moonlight shone through the large window above the bed, illuminating the puffy blanket that stretched out over it, a black-washed gray that paired beautifully with the white pattern that lined its edges. If Eren reached upwards, he could press his hand against the low, slanted ceiling. It was oddly endearing, how small Levi’s bedroom was, feeling cozier than the rest of his cabin ever would.

The next kiss was slower, deepening once Levi pressed him back against the bed, the smooth glide of the blanket against his back delightfully pleasant. Levi ran his hands over Eren’s thighs where they had been thrown wide to accommodate him, stopping only to carefully undo the button of his jeans and hook over his waistband. Eren felt the briefest touch of Levi’s claws against his skin, the sensation intoxicating, and he almost whined when Levi broke the kiss.

He lifted his hips, allowing Levi to pull his jeans off. The blatant heat of a flush burned on Eren’s face in the wake of the slow drag of Levi’s hungry gaze trailing over his body. He felt oddly exposed, sounding petulant as he griped, “Why am I the only one naked here?”

The laugh his question elicited was rough, almost a growl of its own. Levi had the audacity to make a show of taking his own shirt off, each inch of skin that was revealed breathtaking under the glow of the moonlight. Eren’s eyes were immediately drawn to the scar on his stomach again, the skin there discolored and gnarled, the mystery of it holding a whole new allure of its own.

Levi pointedly asked, “Better?”

“Only a little,” Eren grumbled.

Eren’s blood rushed at the sight of Levi dipping lower, his hands coming up under each knee to spread him open. He immediately reached out to weave his fingers through Levi’s hair at the thick stripe that Levi licked from his entrance to his clit. His breath caught at the sensation, his hips involuntarily bucking into Levi’s mouth, and he clumsily pressed his fingers into the back of one of Levi’s ears.

He relished in the keen that the action drew. Levi paused for only a moment, then pressed his tongue in torturous circles against Eren’s clit, and Eren threw his head back against the pillows with a shaky moan. He rolled his hips up against Levi’s mouth, low keens of his own leaving him at every deliberate suck, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. 

He absentmindedly played with the fur that sprouted from the base of Levi’s ears, growing clumsy the closer he got to the edge, the added roughness of it only drawing another low groan from Levi’s chest. The idea of coming on Levi’s face was enticing, bringing a flush down his chest and towards the pressure that build between his legs, had him trying fruitlessly to clamp his thighs shut. Suddenly, Levi pulled off of him, the loss making Eren whine and buck his hips as if that would get him any of the friction he desperately wanted.

He tugged Levi forwards into another kiss, the taste of himself thick and heady, his thighs hooking over Levi’s waist where their hips met and Levi’s cock pressed against him. An impatient noise melted into the kiss at the way Levi rubbed at his clit with the head of his cock.

“God, you tease,” Eren groaned against Levi’s lips. 

Levi pulled back just a bit, amusement clear in his tone when he said, “It’s hard not to tease you when you act like that.”

Eren bucked his hips again, clenching over nothing, sounding painstakingly needy when he demanded, “Just hurry up and fuck me already.”

He didn’t think anything could prepare him for the exquisite burn of Levi finally sliding home. A moan tore its way through Eren's throat when Levi bottomed out, his hips pressed flush against Eren's, a tremulous sigh leaving his lips and ghosting over Eren's own. He clenched around Levi and drew him closer with a small roll of the hips.

Levi leaned forward, nuzzled into the crook of his neck, pulling out slowly before he sharply thrust back in. It forced the air out of him, how wholly Levi's cock filled him, how achingly full he felt. One hand returned to Levi's hair towards his ears, fingers scratching lightly against the fluffy base of one of them, and Eren relished in the strangled mewl that the action elicited.

Levi kissed him again, thrusts slow and deep, each hard press inward mind-numbingly blissful. Eren yearned for more, and with what he couldn't convey from the needy, impatient noise that rose in his throat, he made up for with a sharp yank to Levi's hair. He then bit down hard, tugged at Levi's lower lip, delighted with the high, primal whine that it drew. His heart jumped at the audible tear in the blanket next to him where Levi had clenched his fist into. 

Curiously enough, Levi faltered, mouth slotted messily with his, the taste of copper hot and slick on their tongues. He seated himself deep inside Eren, grinding against him agonizingly slow, and growled against his lips, "Eren."

It was rough, heady, a low warning that made Eren's head spin. Levi's pupils were blown wide, a bright ring of silver encasing the pitch-black abyss that he could easily drown in. The predatory nature of it was intoxicating, more so than the glossy well of blood that wept from Levi's lip. With a burning rush, as if playing with fire, he dug his nails firmly into the base of Levi's ear. Eren caught the unmistakable flash of teeth in the next growl.

"Yeah, I know," Eren griped. "I'm not gonna break. So come _on_ ." He yanked Levi down to murmur against his bloodied lips, "I want you to _fuck me_."

Levi seemed to have given in then, resigning to the kiss with a short keen, his teeth sharp and punishing against Eren's lips. He picked up his pace again, yet it was reckless now, almost careless, the pleasure building mercilessly in Eren's hips. Eren struggled to catch his breath when Levi finally broke the kiss, legs twitching where they clenched tight over Levi's waist, his moans melting into small, desperate whines. He was going to be sore tomorrow, he knew, but with the white-hot ache in his cunt and the burn of the marks that Levi left along the length of his neck, all he could do was _want._

Levi reached over to his thigh, hitching his leg up higher, leaning forward to thrust in an angle that made Eren breathless. A broken noise left him when Levi's claws scratched his flank, breaking the skin there, droplets of blood welling along the thin lines that stretched over to his thigh. Levi's hips stuttered, an apology light on his lips as he withdrew his hand, but Eren only pressed it back down against his thigh. The sharp pin pricks of Levi's claws made his heart race, and despite his better judgement, he wanted more, harder, _deeper._

Levi's nostrils flared at the faint scent of blood. Another growl rumbled deep in his chest, his breath hot against Eren's throat, voice alluringly rough and strained as he pleaded, "Let me bite you."

"Yes." Levi's claws dug harder into his thigh, crossing over the lighter scratches, sharp and chillingly sweet. "Levi, _yes_."

Eren cried out when Levi sunk his teeth into the crook of his neck. He could feel Levi lap at the blood that oozed from the bite mark, tongue rough and searing against his skin. Levi’s thrusts had faltered quite a bit, seemingly entranced by the mark that he’d left, and Eren impatiently rolled his hips. The reminder had Levi picking up the pace again, somehow more punishing than it was before, enough to make Eren’s back arch and his eyes flutter shut.

Droplets of blood welled along the scratches at his flank, running down along his skin until they threatened to sink into the sheets below them. A sound close to a sob forced its way out of Eren's throat when Levi dug his claws into his inner thigh, the sensation running like electricity up his spine. He felt the way Levi's cock twitched inside him at the sound, heard the feral whine that accompanied it, both exquisitely intoxicating in their own way.

Levi's thrusts steadily became more erratic with each lap against the wound, and he bit down right next to it, harder than the first. Eren's nails gnawed into Levi's shoulders, leaving his own marks that he knew would sting, aching and needy when he begged, "More. I need more, Levi, please -"

He made a pitiful noise when Levi's hand carefully dipped low to rub his clit between two blood-slicked fingers. It was too much, too intense, and Eren finally came with a groan, reaching up to thread his fingers into Levi's hair. He dug his nails into the bases of Levi's ears, rubbing his thumbs deliberately rough through the tufts of fur and up towards the very tips. Levi keened loudly, and he held Eren close as he came, teeth digging into the wound he'd already created, pressing in as deep as he could. Eren clenched hard around him, feeling so blissfully full, relishing in the shaky sigh that the action drew.

Levi slowly pulled out, the action drawing a needy whimper, and clumsily collapsed next to him. Eren jumped at the feather-light touch that passed over his clit again, but Levi's fingers only slid lower, circling gently over his slicked entrance. He just barely registered the hesitance in Levi's tone when he said, "We didn't. . . ."

"Don't worry about it," came Eren's simple reply. Seemingly satisfied, Levi finally nuzzled close to him. He laughed a little, still trying to catch his breath when he said, "Didn't think you'd be the type to want post-sex cuddles."

"You just smell nice." Eren shivered at the slow drag of Levi's tongue over the bite marks on his neck. " _Really_ nice." After some time, Levi pulled off of him with a heavy sigh, as if he was reluctant to do so. "Come here. I have bandages and disinfectant."

Eren batted his eyelashes. "Just for me? You shouldn't have."

"If that makes you happy, sure," Levi dryly replied. He stood in front of Eren, watched as he languidly stretched, and distantly, Eren heard him say, "And about that offer the other week. . . ."

It took a moment for Eren to understand, but he lit up when he remembered the invitation. Levi pressed no further, but it was that comfortable push and pull that they fell into that worked perfectly for them; Eren invited him to the local coffee shop again, and to his delight, Levi wasn't opposed to the idea.

* * *

“You knew.”

Amusement shone brightly in Erwin’s eyes. He brought one finger up to his lip and mockingly shushed him with a slight tilt of the head towards the person browsing nearby. With an indignant huff, Eren repeated, quietly this time, “You knew. This entire time, you - you _knew._ ”

“I’m not sure whether you’re shocked or offended here,” Erwin mused lightly, as if Eren’s entire groundbreaking discovery was a nonevent. “Though I suppose I should have expected you to find out. Was it Levi who told you to come talk to me?”

That simple, damning question alone was enough to confirm everything Eren needed to know. His head spun in the wake of the questions that sprouted, begging him to be answered, and he walked around the desk without bothering to ask for permission first. Erwin merely watched as he pulled out a chair that had been tucked away nearby, oddly expectant, the clatter of it deafeningly loud in the chilling silence.

“Armin mentioned that you know a Levi.”

Erwin nodded with a low, smooth hum. Eren couldn’t determine whether it was acceptance or pleasant surprise. “What’s been bothering you, then?”

Eren bit his lip, contemplated the question for a few moments, until he eventually prompted, “How do you know him?”

One brow quirked upwards, seemingly taken aback. “Oh? You sound defensive.” He set down the papers he held in his hand, fingertips gliding across the desktop with a soft hiss as he withdrew them to face Eren properly. “Do you think it’s your duty to protect this secret, then? An obligation, maybe?”

It had been spoken too lightly, too off-handedly to truly be considered an accusation, but Eren still shifted uncomfortably under the enigmatic stare Erwin regarded him with. “What are you talking about?” he griped. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just - you just found out, somehow. And you just -” he flailed helplessly, breath caught in his throat, before he asked, “How do you just go on like that, _knowing?_ ”

He could never forget the apprehension he felt in the few days that followed and the many times he tried (and failed) to somehow verbalize what he had seen. Although acceptance came to him as gradually and naturally as a sunset, there was still so much he didn’t know, so much that he wanted to ask and yet never seemed to have the chance to bring up. 

That same smile was on Erwin’s lips, as fond and reminiscent as it was when he first told Eren about the legend that Levi had been dragged into purely by association. He countered, “How did you?”

“You keep doing that!” Eren exasperatedly bit out. “You keep playing games with me or some shit when all I’m asking you for is a straight answer. Why don’t you just answer me normally for once?”

“It’s quite a bit deeper than just giving you the answers you want.” Erwin’s countenance betrayed nothing, his eyes equally as inscrutable, and it was frightening, how easily he could slip away from such a warm, welcoming demeanor. Eren couldn’t help but feel as petulant as Erwin no doubt thought him to be. “It’s about the time afterwards. The nights you spent awake wondering about what you saw.”

Eren remembered the cruel twist in his gut at the photos of the gashes he still had in his camera, how long he’d spent staring at them after the encounter. He remembered how quickly that weight in the pit of his stomach shifted to something less visceral and more invigorating - how little time it took for him to visit the river again, hoping to somehow find Levi at its edge as if nothing had ever happened.

Erwin, seemingly disinterested, continued on, “It’s like a fairy tale, isn’t it? Something like Levi existing, straight out of a book of regional garbage?”

The prompt was simple, yet strikingly accusatory, and if Eren hadn’t already been hushed and discretely shut down, he might have missed it in his rush to argue. Erwin only sat there, as excruciatingly patient as ever, playing a game that Eren didn’t know the rules to. 

Maybe the endgame was to dig some ugly little needle of truth right into his core, to somehow flay Eren on the smooth surface of a canvas for all of his petty, disgusting secrets to bleed out into the cotton. And he’d be as nonchalant as ever, gaining every confirmation to his suspicions that he needed, earning all the satisfaction he could want at Eren’s expensive. No wonder Armin liked this man so much.

It wasn’t to say that the discovery in and of itself wasn’t something that heightened Eren’s interest - that part he would always willingly acknowledge, that whole new allure to Levi, the dangerous little whispers that tugged him forth as a moth was called towards a flame. But that allure, at its core, was no different than it was before, when it was as simple and innocent as the biting curiosity Eren initially felt towards the pretty, nameless man he found on his walks along the river.

“That’s a simple way to put it, I guess,” Eren finally responded. “It just feels complicated. Things like that - like Levi - they don’t happen. They _don’t_. Then I met Levi, and I found him out, and . . .” He struggled to piece his confession together, and Erwin only remained as patient as ever, thoughtful as if he genuinely wondered what Eren had to offer. “I want to say that I don’t care, but that’s a lie. I do care.” He averted Erwin’s gaze, his voice sinking to a shameful murmur when he admitted, “I care about Levi. More than I should, I think. Before and after that night. It feels complicated, but I don’t want it to be.”

“So you won’t let it be,” Erwin delicately offered. “Because it doesn’t have to be. Is that it?”

Eren could only nod. There was a sense of relief in the understanding that he caught in Erwin’s voice, so deeply rooted in his words as if they had been spoken through nothing but empathy. Eren looked back towards Erwin, whose pleased gaze was focused on the large windows near the entrance of the library. He seemed satisfied with the answer Eren gave him.

After some time, Erwin said, “We met in a forest down west.” Eren stared, incredulous, hanging onto every word as Erwin continued, “You passed by it on the way here. Trost, if I’m remembering correctly. Not as small as Shiganshina, but definitely as secluded.” At the skeptical noise that Eren made, he asked, “Something wrong?”

“Levi told me that he doesn’t remember where he lived before Shiganshina.”

“I believe you,” Erwin chuckled, still so painfully inscrutable in an infuriating way that made Eren want to scream. “That’s his story to tell, I suppose.”

“But what’s _yours?_ ” Eren asked, some odd mixture of desperation and frustration weighing on his voice. “What happened? What came _before_ Shiganshina?”

Erwin’s eyes trailed elsewhere, perhaps back to the soothing shine of the sun through the dusty windows, his jaw setting as if he was unsure of how to answer. The sudden loss for words was more ominous than it had the right to be. As meticulous as he always seemed to be, he danced around the question, saying, “I went looking for my own answers back then. I knew I was playing with fire. Flying too close to the sun, if you will.”

Eren shifted in his seat once more. He hooked his finger over the thick collar of his turtleneck, the material suddenly too constricting, too suffocating. “Why do you say that?”

“Levi isn’t the easiest to get a hold of when he doesn’t want to be found.” When he met Erwin’s eye again, he had that same warm, welcoming demeanor plastered onto his face, as chillingly unnatural as a mask. “I scared him almost as much as he scared me, I think. It took about a decade before I finally ran into him here in Shiganshina.” A huff left his lips, as if the memory was some amusing, care-free little detail of their apparent friendship. “That was an entire decade of wondering about what I saw that night. Isn’t that terrible?”

Eren hated how vague Erwin was, how little he answered, how many questions arose in the wake of the few that were carelessly beaten around. The fact that Erwin had implied that there was a story to tell only made it more frustrating. Maybe he knew just how infuriating he’d been, judging by the amused gleam in his eyes when Eren begrudgingly bid him farewell.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so my mental and physical health both decided that it was finally Time to give me hell. i apologize for taking so long to recover. here's some questionable smut to make up for my absence :)))))

There was a small coffee shop near the river that Levi, once prompted, had carefully recommended. It was narrow, its entrance easy to miss from where it was embedded in the gray, stained brick wall, lit only by the bright summer sun that shone through its spotless windows. Looking back at it, perhaps Eren should have picked a more interesting place for a technical first date, but Levi didn’t seem to care.

From where they were seated, far in a secluded corner that Levi had pointed out, Eren could vaguely make out the silhouettes of passersby just outside. The quiet hum of conversation and the clatter that came from behind the counter offered enough privacy for comfort. Their table was just as small as the place itself, rounded with a weathered scratchiness to its edges, and if Eren wanted, he could lean in closer, only slightly out of his seat, and press a kiss to Levi’s forehead.

While Eren was endlessly fond of the oversized T-shirts that Levi always wore, he couldn’t deny that the fitted dress short he wore that day looked lovely on him. That in itself was strikingly endearing, knowing that Levi had put in the effort. He no longer looked like he was drowning in the fabric, no longer looked like he’d spent the morning breathing life into another canvas. He sat there idly stirring his tea, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, his other hand propping his head up on his palm.

For a while, Eren said nothing. Levi eventually murmured, “You’re staring.”

Eren’s face burned. “It’s hard not to.”

Those brilliant eyes trailed across the walls, thoughtfully landed on each carefully placed painting, something close to interest sparking amongst bright silver. Hung on each wall, standing out from the faded caramel wallpaper, were paintings of various breads and coffees, all meticulously crafted with the smooth, impeccable kiss of a paint brush.

“With how small the place is, it’s not unreasonable to think that they’d take in a painting or two,” Eren pointed out.

“I told you, publicity isn’t really my thing. That’s not to say I don’t _want_ to, though.” Levi glanced towards him, his fingertips tapping lightly across his cheek. “It’s always felt like some weird fantasy - having a place to show off the things I created. Having people actually give a fuck about the things I made when I had nothing better to do.”

Eren, endlessly drawn to seemingly everything that Levi had to reveal, only leaned forward, asked tentatively, “Is that what stops you, then? That it feels like a far-fetched fantasy?”

“You could say that.” Levi finally brought his teacup to his lips, carefully sipped, brought it back down to the table with a disinterested hum. “After thirty-nine years of doing everything I can to stay out of people’s way, I’d say it’s pretty hard to suddenly throw myself out into the world for people to notice me through my work.”

It took Eren only a moment to register Levi’s age, and then to somehow stifle the skeptical snort that nearly left him. It was almost classically, disgustingly fairytale-esque, this apparent youthfulness, almost enough to make Eren laugh. He instead continued on, “So let’s say you had the chance to turn in a painting anonymously. What then?”

“What then?” Levi repeated, flippant as if he couldn’t care less, but his thoughtful demeanor convinced Eren otherwise. “Is that something you do, then?”

Eren reached for his mug, only to realize that it was empty. “Well, I’ve always felt this need to show other people what I can do.” A small laugh left him, careless and reminiscent, and he explained, “I’ve always been satisfied with my work, but there’s a different kind of satisfaction altogether when you make something that other people also love. I always had my name attached to every photo, and I was always there to hear firsthand what people had to say. Somehow, praise meant more from a complete stranger who had no reason to be biased.”

Levi nodded slowly, tone gentle when he said, “I can see the appeal in that.”

Eren watched as Levi’s fingers tapped a slow, wordless tune against the table. Without a second thought, he reached out, and Levi made no move to pull away as he weaved their fingers together. It was easy to, flawlessly easy to touch, to squeeze, to hold Levi’s hand with enough insouciance to perhaps, for once, insinuate that he wasn’t a hopeless wreck.

Levi, with a hint of wonder, asked, “Are you always this touchy?”

“Oh, that’s romantic,” Eren snorted. He dropped the hilarity in his tone to reassure, “If it bothers you, I can stop.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Eren gave Levi’s hand a short squeeze, and after a small pause, Levi did the same in return. Their knees brushed as he shifted, then murmured distantly, “It’s just . . . different.”

Another patron passed by them on their way to the restroom. Eren instinctually withdrew his hand with a stiff smile at the patron who briefly greeted him on the way past. He almost forgot how _friendly_ everyone was in such a small town - it was nothing compared to the frigid indifference of the city. That was yet another thing he hadn’t realized he’d forgotten in all the years he’d spent away from Shiganshina.

Levi had also withdrawn his hand, resting it on his other forearm, looking oddly disgruntled. Eren hooked a finger over the thin scarf that he wore, tugging uncomfortably, but to his thrill, the action drew Levi’s attention. It was made out of a light, silky material, tied and tucked away into his collar in a way that wasn’t too restrictive. Armin had thankfully given it to him without too many invasive questions; while it wasn’t a necessity, it certainly did help to hide that one pesky mark that peeked just over his collar.

“Do they bother you?”

Eren rolled his eyes. “Shut up, you know the answer to that.”

Levi seemed pleased with the answer. “I do,” he admitted, “I just like hearing it from you.”

“So I can tell you that you did a good job even though you already _know_ that?” Eren trailed his fingers along the scarf, tugged ever so lightly at the knot, itching to untie it under Levi’s heavy gaze. “I’d say you didn’t leave enough.”

Levi straightened from his languid slouch. He suggested with a silvery purr, “We can fix that.”

Eren’s heart raced at the idea. He leaned in closer, balanced at the edge of his seat, his tone light and airy as he pointed out, “We just got here, though. Do you really want to leave already?”

He felt the soft nudge of Levi’s knuckles knocking against his own from where their hands met. “If that means I get to fuck you, then yes.”

Eren felt pinned there, drowning in the abyss of Levi’s eyes, forever encompassed by the meticulous glare of them. He may as well have been cornered, sitting there with his heart racing, the gentle nudge of Levi’s knee against his own the only thing that kept him drifting off. He reached out to run his fingers along the smooth back of Levi’s hand, ran the pad of his thumb gently across neatly trimmed nails, and his other hand, with a hot thrill, settled on Levi’s thigh, where his tail may have been curled against were it nighttime.

Together there, shrouded in the light shadow of that corner, knowing anyone could turn an eye towards them at any given moment spurred Eren onwards. He gave Levi’s thigh a soft squeeze. “Have you ever hunted anyone?”

If he focused, if he tried, he could perhaps feel how Levi’s heart also raced, pounding against his ribcage and pouring up from his throat in a gruff response, “Anyone?” He stressed the _one_ , and upon Eren’s eager nod, he hummed, “Technically. But you’re not that hard to find.”

It was exhilarating, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he could make Levi feel as hopelessly ensnared as he did. He scooted closer, a fist tucked under his chin now, his hand inching upwards ever so slightly. “How is it so easy for you?”

Levi’s hand clamped over his wrist. He paused, brow raising in question. Several tentative moments passed, ones where Eren resisted the urge to lean in the small distance it would take to kiss him, before Levi’s grip finally loosened. Levi withdrew his hand and continued to tap another soft, wordless tune against the discolored tabletop.

“You smell different.”

Eren snorted at the admission. “I’m just going to assume that’s a good thing.”

“It’s good,” Levi reassured. He spoke so easily, so freely, continuing on as if he hadn’t spread his thighs a little wider to accommodate Eren’s hand, “Like coffee with too much sugar in it. Or like a candle that’s been burning for too long. It’s a lot, but it’s -” His breath caught, delicate, almost imperceptible. “It’s good.”

Eren palmed the outline of Levi’s cock through his trousers. Levi remained impassive despite how hard he was, and that only made Eren bolder. “So if I were to miraculously get lost again,” Eren prompted, ridiculously pleased with how Levi had clenched his jaw at a particularly rough squeeze, “and somehow couldn’t find my way out. . . .”

Were it nighttime, were it under the glare of the moon, Levi might have keened, might have let out that strikingly canine whine that Eren had grown fond of. Instead, he sighed out in tumultuous, agonizing anticipation, “Only one way to find out.”

Eren ground his palm harder, rougher, lingering there only for another moment before he withdrew entirely. This close, Levi’s breath melted seamlessly with his, his eyes a glossy, stainless mirror, but Eren only scooted back into his original spot. Levi’s countenance remained enigmatic, almost frighteningly so.

“You’re playing with fire, brat,” Levi murmured low in his chest, but despite the apparent frustration, he still sounded so delightfully fond.

Eren cheekily countered, “It’s not playing with fire if I can’t actually get burned.”

Levi didn’t give him a response, instead reaching for his cup of lukewarm tea with another disinterested grimace.

* * *

It wasn’t until a couple of nights had passed that Eren finally decided to venture into the forest. Just a few hours ago, he was sprawled out on Armin’s bed, a pillow pressed to his face, only half-listening to all of the things Armin excitedly talked about as he picked out a nice enough shirt for his date that night. And then he was alone, swallowed deep by the silence that lingered in every corner, in every crevice, creeping over his shoulder until he was already out the door.

He’d intended to wait a little longer, but both impatience and discomfort alike pushed him out long after the sun had set. What he was waiting for, he wasn’t entirely sure at that point - there was nothing that stopped him from eventually stepping over the underbrush and sinking into the thick, unending void of the forest. There was still the discomfort, the borderline terror of his aimless walk through the branches and leaves that brushed against him, but that melted away as quickly as the wildlife had came to a chilling halt.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. He didn’t even bother keeping track. Any worries floated away, sinking and disappearing into the forest as it would in a yawning trench in the ocean, and was instead replaced with a keen awareness of the branches that rustled behind him.

First came the cruel scratch of tree bark against his cheek as he was shoved against the nearest one, then came the warmth of Levi pressing into him with enough force to leave him breathless. The bark next to him splintered and cracked where Levi had dug his claws into.

With a rush, a sparking thrill, Eren tried to push him off. That in itself seemed to please Levi; something low and clicking rumbled deep in his chest, and he made a point to leave a few short, jagged openings in the bark upon withdrawing his claws. Levi bodily shoved him back against the tree with an arm pressed to his back, following him even when he lost his balance and fell to his knees between two thick tree roots. 

“This what you’ve been waiting for, brat?” Claws pricked through his jeans as Levi grabbed him by the hips and tugged him back to shamelessly grind against his ass. A shiver wracked down his spine at Levi’s harsh snarl, “Wanted me to go out of my way to hunt you down?”

“Don’t even act like you didn’t like it,” Eren huffed. He pressed one arm to the tree to support himself, grinding back just as shamelessly even as he pointed out, “I thought you weren’t an exhibitionist.”

“Oh, that’s cute. You think someone can actually find us here.” Levi moved to unbutton his jeans, continuing with another rumbling growl, “I get to fuck you right up against this tree and no one would know a damn thing.”

Eren spread his legs wider, reached back to grab at Levi’s hair and tug him closer. He relished in how readily Levi bent over him, teeth grazing over his neck, cock painfully hard and straining against him. Eren’s breath hitched at the fingers that dug into the bite mark that stuck out above his collar.

The curved tips of Levi’s claws pricked at his skin, sending chills down his spine, accompanied by a soft, almost wondrous whisper, “I don’t know if I want to make you come or bleed.”

Eren’s heart raced at the idea. Maybe Levi could smell the fear, smell the thick, blatant arousal, because he caught the low whine that rose high in Levi’s throat in the wake of his burning flush. He didn’t even bother trying to mask his anticipation when he said, “Try both.”

He jumped at the claws that tore down the back of his shirt. It was electrifying, how trapped he felt, cornered there with the barest hint of Levi’s claws ghosting over his skin, the threat of them intoxicating, heady. Soon after, Levi moved to his jeans, pulling off of him to tug the waistband down over his ass in one harsh movement. 

“You’d let me?” Levi yanked him back to grind hard against him, the material of his trousers dragging against Eren’s skin rough and cruel. He kissed the shell of Eren’s ear, sounding breathless when he murmured, “Let me tear you up, bleed you out?”

Eren couldn’t hold back the whine that tore from his throat, melting into the air in a surreal way that he almost didn’t recognize. Levi’s hands left his hips, only to pull his cock out to press against his ass. He eagerly pushed back against Levi, his voice needy and trembling when he hissed out, “Anything, just _hurry up_ already.”

The pinpricks of Levi’s claws inching down his spine went straight to his cunt. He clenched around nothing, feeling so terribly empty.

“You’re too impatient.” A complaint rose on Eren’s lips, only to stumble and fall out as nothing but a wordless, pathetic noise when Levi finally slid into him. Levi spread him wider, claws digging into his skin, his words strained as he said, “Like you weren’t the one who made me wait.”

He pulled out, the slow drag of his cock mesmerizing, the next hard thrust inward enough to tear another noise out from Eren’s throat. He ached for more, ached with each firm, deliberate thrust, ached with each sharp prick against his skin that burned but didn’t tear.

“ _Levi._ ” He felt how Levi’s claws dug deeper at his gritted plea, heard Levi’s shaky sigh when he resorted to pressing his hips back with each thrust inward. “Fuck, Levi, come _on_ -”

He whined at the first searing sting of Levi’s claws finally breaking skin. Levi bent back over him then, biting back a strangled noise, the smooth, agonizing glide of his claws raking down Eren’s thighs a sick, twisted sacrament. A mess spilled from his lips, some sort of plea that he couldn’t begin to comprehend, followed shortly after by another tremulous whine as Levi finally fucked into him, hard and merciless like he’d been craving.

The next pass of Levi’s claws digging into his hips had him reaching down to grind against his clit. He clenched around Levi, thighs shaking from the white-hot pleasure that crashed into him, his mind blanking at the hard sink of teeth on the other side of his neck that had been left mostly untouched. 

There was something so sinuous, so astoundingly arousing about being claimed, being used, being absolutely _wrecked._ The wounds on his thighs wept, stung and burned with each hard press of Levi’s hips against him - and Levi only dug in harder, some odd mixture of a keen and a moan melting onto Eren’s skin, his cock twitching with each strangled noise that Eren made.

Levi sunk his teeth in again, this time on his shoulder where the scrap of his shirt hung from, and Eren came so suddenly, so embarrassingly quickly. He brokenly sobbed at the tips of Levi’s claws that sunk into his hips, at the raw ache of Levi’s cock slamming home, at the primal growls that Levi couldn’t seem to hold back.

It was almost too much, almost spilling past the brim of what he could handle, but then Levi halted, hips flush against his ass, sporadically bucking forwards as he rode out his own climax. He felt Levi’s tongue drag over his skin, over the new marks he’d created, but it was slow this time, gentler than it ever had been before, an unspoken apology that Eren quickly caught on to.

Eren reached back to thread his fingers into Levi’s hair, scratching at an ear as he breathlessly murmured, “Would you even listen if I told you how much I enjoyed that?” Levi nuzzled into his neck, arms coming up to wrap under his chest, and he huffed out, “Then you get to patch me up now, since you’re so worried.”

“I can live with that,” Levi sighed, a soft, blissful sound.

* * *

The biting heat of the sun on his eyelids was what woke Eren up the next morning. Just above the bed was a window, sealed tightly shut, the smooth pink and delicate blue of the sunrise just barely visible over the crowns of trees. He rolled over onto his stomach, a small noise forcing its way out of his throat at the burning, merciless sting in his hips and thighs that followed the movement. He blearily glanced over next to him, where the bed was empty and pillow lay untouched.

The shirt Levi had worn the previous night was folded neatly atop his dresser. Everything in his room was kept neatly in place, impeccably lined and ordered, from the way the rug had been adjusted to the books that had been dutifully organized by height. Even the blanket that had slid off his shoulders when he finally sat upright had been flattened and tucked in, as if Levi had actually taken the time to do so before he got up. The sharp contrast between his bedroom and his art was almost enough to make Eren laugh.

Everything was some blatant contrast that Eren could laugh at; they seemed to be polar opposites sometimes, finding common ground only in their art, in their affinity for grand, aesthetically stunning displays of the forest, captured forever in either a frame or a canvas. Distantly, he heard the telltale clang of a paint bucket being plucked off the rack and pried open, calling to him in a way that finally convinced him to leave the bed.

Bandages scraped, tape prickled, the smell of the disinfectant Levi had so religiously used still lingering from where he left - he fought the urge to pry them off, to allow the wounds to breathe, to relish in how jagged, how deep, how blatant and unapologetic they were, glaring at him from where they had been dragged through his skin. Each sting gradually melted away, coalesced with the discomfort of the bandages themselves, until he was able to largely ignore it long enough to descend the ladder. 

The floorboards were cold and unforgiving on his bare feet. He might have changed his mind and returned back to bed, either to curl back up under the covers or wrap the blanket around himself, but at the sight of Levi’s bare skin, his back, the scar on his stomach, the tightly wound muscles of his arms and thighs, he decided against it.

Levi didn’t pay him any mind. He was shrouded in sunlight, the smooth glisten of it highlighting the hues of green and yellow that had been smeared over his forearms, his knuckles, coating his fingers and sinking into the beds of his nails. The masterful glide of each finger against the canvas was mesmerizing, each curve and press and scrape of his fingertips coalescing to form one of the branching petals of the wildflower that he had been painting.

Eren slid his arms around Levi’s waist, nuzzling against the crown of his head. Paint smudged his forearms, the cool kiss of it a blessing on his skin. Levi paused for a moment, only to wrap paint-coated fingers around one of his wrists. 

“You’re in the way,” Levi told him, voice as rough as the gravel that crunched under his shoes, tone as gentle as the petals that graced the canvas.

Eren shrugged, felt how thickly the paint had clung to his skin after Levi pulled away to dip two fingers back into the green paint can. “Deal with it.”

He caught the airy hum, both acceptance and fondness alike. He watched as Levi continued his work; it was slow, meticulous, unraveling and revealing as bandages did, sinking and spreading as blood did. Eren ran his own fingers along Levi’s chest, smearing some of the paint against his skin, but Levi didn’t seem bothered by it.

He trailed lower, down to the gnarled, discolored skin of the scar that stretched across his stomach. He traced the jagged line of it, gentle against its twisted edges, painstakingly delicate as he pressed his palm over the long stretch of it. Levi’s chest rose and fell with each steady breath, calming the inexplicable wave of dread that coiled low in Eren’s gut. It was visceral, sinking into him as deep at the wound had sunken into Levi, leaving an echo that rippled over his skin as the water did once a rock broke its surface.

“Happened a little over twenty years ago,” Levi quietly explained. “Got the bastard who did it good, though, so we’re even.”

Eren pressed against the scar as if holding something together that had already been long lost. “What happened?”

“A hunter at the time.” Levi ran the smooth pad of his thumb over the stem, scraped in a way that left a delicate highlight in its wake. Eren heard a trace of bitter amusement when Levi continued, “It’s funny, kind of. A fucked up kind of funny. One of the only other people who found me out was someone who wanted me dead when we first met.”

Eren halted, tensed, withdrew his palm as everything came to a clanging, deafening stop. “Huh?”

“He wanted answers. Well, he wanted a trophy to mount on his fireplace, but eventually, he just wanted answers. It got complicated somewhere along the way.” Levi paused, fingers hovering over the canvas for a few tentative moments before he withdrew them. He wistfully sighed, “He got them eventually. After we both healed and grew up a little.”

The tale sounded too frightening, too familiar, too _surreal._ He pulled Levi back flush against his chest, clung to him as if he couldn’t catch a breath. Paint soothingly kissed his skin where Levi rest his hands against Eren’s forearms, the thick, sticky feeling of it unfathomably grounding.

“And the other person?”

“They found my cabin.” A small, humorless laugh left him, as if he still couldn’t believe it. “Wouldn’t leave until after we had tea. They left eventually to go teach at some weird university, but they still visit every other summer.”

There were so many questions that burst forth, dancing on the tip of Eren’s tongue in their desperate grasps for answers, but he supposed this was what Erwin meant; Levi had told his story, as nonchalantly as he always did, as if there wasn’t a scar that left a mangled, discolored tear in its wake, as if he never had that near-death experience that was no doubt terrifying at the time.

His thoughts slowed and eventually stopped as Levi turned in his arms to face him, his hands reaching up to smear paint over his neck, his chest, his stomach. Levi pressed a kiss to his jaw, running his fingers back up his abdomen and halting once they reached his scars. They weren’t as blatant as they used to be, no longer puffy and angry and painful, and Eren didn’t recoil at the paint that smeared over them.

Levi only continued, never once asking, his lips pressing delicate kisses along the length of his jaw. Eren scratched lightly at his undercut, trailing patterns of his own over Levi’s shoulder blades, and eventually, he risked it to ask, “How?”

Somehow, Levi just knew. Or maybe he expected it. Maybe, with how Eren had fixated on that scar, with how Eren had clung to him, he expected the question, and answered it just as willingly, “It wasn’t easy. But you get to that point in your life where you stop caring, and sometimes that’s a good thing.”

With Levi’s lips finally pressing against his own, Eren figured that later, much later, he would search for the explanation he craved.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up, y'all: this story is finally drawing to a close! next chapter is officially the last :''''')

Eren didn’t bother asking that day. His echoing footsteps drew Erwin’s attention, the clamor of them accusatory, drowned out only by the blatant scrape of a chair being pulled out and dragged over to his desk. With a curious glance, Erwin merely watched him, naught but a faint laugh leaving him when Eren finally took a seat next to him.

Erwin gave him that same warm, disgustingly pleasant smile. “Is this becoming a habit, then?”

Eren found the oddly expectant gaze that he was regarded with to be astoundingly annoying. Erwin looked so perfect, so pristine, sitting there with the shine of the sun landing over him, reflecting off his spotless desktop, the bolo tie centered on his chest staring at him with a mocking glisten to it. It was nearly impossible to imagine him outside of the white marble setting, the weathered jacket that hung loosely over his shoulders, the watch on his wrist that sat idly ticking away as the minutes, the hours, the days dragged on between them.

It was probably only a minute. It probably wasn’t even longer than a few seconds. Regardless, Eren watched, in some comical slow-motion trigger, the way Erwin’s smile twitched and slipped the slightest bit when he stated, “You tried to kill him.”

Although he wanted nothing more than to rip that mask off entirely, he supposed the falter in Erwin’s smile was enough. An odd, agonizing weight settled in his gut when Erwin hummed, “Well, I suppose that’s the best place to start, isn’t it?”

Eren’s eyes were drawn to the hand that reached to settle over the limp, lifeless sleeve of his jacket. Some mixture of dread and anticipation lurched and scratched at the back of his throat, the mere thought of how the appendage must have been taken - been torn, mutilated, _amputated_ \- stirring something so hauntingly visceral that it nearly hurt. He thought back to gnarled, discolored skin, to the length of the gash that still echoed, still spoke of the encounter to that very day, forever etched onto Levi’s stomach as it was on the knot tied into Erwin’s sleeve.

He could still hear Levi’s words, his claim that they were even, that this - that gnarled skin, that a missing limb - was some fair deal that they begrudgingly settled with. His head nearly spun at the effort to try and even begin to understand how a common ground could have been reached after that.

“Twenty-four years ago. Or twenty-five, maybe,” Erwin started, the enigmatic veil of his plastic smile making the grim weight that settled over his tone nearly imperceptible, “I heard whispers of some awful creature that had been lurking the town’s streets at night. And what better way to make a name for myself than to save Trost from a creature that kept its folks awake at night?” Erwin caught the way Eren shifted to tug uncomfortably at his scarf, and he reassured, “No, it wasn’t Levi, but they were associated in a way. He was only looking for someone - the actual creature, as it were - but I couldn’t have known that.”

Of course he couldn’t have known that. There was something so cruelly, horrendously hilarious in the ongoing theme that Levi, continuously for worse, had been dragged into rumors and garbage legends alike through the actions of others. Of family, of creatures that wandered too far, of other entities who blended in as smoothly as Levi did when the burn of the sun was there to mask the identity that kept him nameless.

Erwin leaned back in his chair, a deep sigh lingering in the air, settling heavily over Eren’s shoulders when he said, “I was young, and he was even younger, and I didn’t realize that provoking a quite literal cornered wolf was a bad idea.”

“Okay, but - but how did you -?” Eren spluttered a bit, his face burning at the questioning look Erwin gave him, and he pointed out as if it wasn’t obvious, “He took your arm. How do you just go on like that?”

Erwin shrugged, saying lightly, “The first order of business after amputation was to learn how to write with the opposite hand.”

“You know what I meant!” Eren snapped.

The velvety chuckle that spilled forth from Erwin’s lips made Eren want to scream. “After a while, I stopped blaming him. I considered this a learning experience - albeit a drastic one.” There was something oddly soft, oddly reminiscent that lingered in his voice when he said, “When we met again, it was by the river. He caught me while I was sunbathing. Imagine my shock when he tried to drown me.”

Somehow, the genuine warmth in Erwin’s smile, embedded deep in the way he spoke as if it were a distantly fond memory, was more confusing than it was relieving. Eren mumbled with a humorless laugh, “So it was the drowning part that brought you two together?”

“No, but it was a start. We talked after he calmed down,” Erwin stated plainly. “We talked, and after a while, we formed a truce; he could have my books, and I could have answers. A few years down the line, we started calling each other friends.”

In the wake of the silence that followed, Eren mulled over the explanation, settling his hands in his lap to fumble with the hem of his shirt. The slight pressure brought a dull, searing ache, branching from his thighs to his hips, burning there long enough for him to consider what Erwin had said; he’d cornered a wolf - a quite literal _wolf_ \- and with the reminder of the marks, the eventual scars, that had been left behind a few nights ago, he pondered what they meant.

When taking both lore and individual perspective into consideration, Eren tentatively asked, “Does that mean - are you -?”

His words faltered, lingering in the air between them, thick and heavy and suffocating enough for Erwin to realize that he’d meant. He chuckled at the implication, then answered, “No. Contrary to popular belief, no, Levi isn’t infectious.”

He spoke slowly, placating in the way he stressed the _no_ , and Eren quickly looked away with a flush burning down his neck. Behind the desk, hung up high on the wall, one of the previous paintings had been replaced with a new one. It only took a moment of consideration - a moment to linger on its jagged edges, its roughened peaks, its telltale smudges - for Eren to recognize it as Levi’s painting. It had been the deer, hidden amongst golden leaves, peeking out from behind the thick, grayed trunk of a tree.

“Hey.” He drew Erwin’s attention to the painting, then asked, “Did Levi. . . ?”

Erwin gave him that same knowing smile, eyes bright when he shrugged and said, “I’m only reaping the benefits of an anonymous submission. Livens up my desk, doesn’t it?”

It was nothing compared to how bright it had been in Levi’s cabin, hidden amongst all the other canvases, breathing life into the room just as Levi breathed life on to the cotton, but nevertheless, Eren agreed, “Yeah. It really does.”

* * *

Through the pitch black void of the night, fairy lights twinkled and set a gentle haze of yellow and white melting across the railing and walls. It was silent, save for the low, jumbled murmurs coming from the movie that Eren had set to such a low volume some time ago. He found that it was difficult to sleep in near complete silence. Through the weeks he’d spent back in Shiganshina, there was never a night where he wouldn’t lay awake for some time, acutely aware of the absence of barking or honking or dull music thrumming through the walls.

Even after all that time, he hadn’t adjusted to the silence as quickly as he adjusted to the cacophony that was the city. The quiet moments alone, the moments where he could listen to the raindrops patter against the rooftop without traffic to drown it out, the moments where he could hear his own breaths, his own heartbeat, the glide of his own skin across the blankets - all of it was as thick and suffocating as a weighted blanket on a muggy summer night.

With laying awake, shrouded in the glow of fairy lights and the dull flicker of the television, he thought back to the forest. He thought back to the cries of the birds above, the rustle of rodents beneath the underbrush, the ever-present hiss of rushing water; inevitably, he thought back to how he could hear it all, how he could listen to the symphony outside Levi’s window as he drifted off to sleep.

He hadn’t stayed the night since then. Every other night, he’d return home, spending his time in his room or in the living room, curled up with a tablet balanced on his knees and his editing software running for seemingly hours on end. It was a wonder how he didn’t annoy Armin with how often he’d ask for his opinion on a set of photographs before finally moving on from them.

By the time he’d decided to turn on the lights and reach for his camera, he heard the jingle of keys, then the eventual rustle and creak of the front door being nudged open. The moonlight poured through, spreading over the floor and highlighting the darkened edges of furniture, obstructed by Armin’s silhouette as he tiptoed in.

“You’re not as discreet as you think you are,” Eren said, voice cutting through the tranquil night.

Armin startled, then hissed, “Shut up!” Abandoning the consideration he once had, he jammed the door back shut, then switched on the lights. Eren flinched, a disgruntled noise leaving his throat as Armin asked, “Why’d you stay up, anyways?”

Disregarding how he’d spent the last couple of hours trying (and failing) to fall asleep, he grumbled, “You asked me to.” Still squinting, he said, “I still don’t see why you don’t spend the night with Erwin when you’re always getting home so late.”

Armin bristled, stammering out, “Well it’s - it’s not -”

Eren rolled his eyes. “He kicks you out, then? What an ass.”

“He doesn’t!” Eren watched as Armin reached into the fridge for a drink, the slam of the door as he kicked it shut nearly masking his small murmur, “It’s just . . . a little complicated. On my end, anyways. . . .”

 _Complicated_. Eren would laugh if he had the energy to. Everything was complicated. Everything, from his photographs to his portfolio to the lingering dread that reared up on him the closer they got to the end of summer. He stared up at the calendar that Armin had hung next to the front door, on each thin X marked onto every day as they passed, creeping ever so slowly to the day where he’d have to leave.

Saying goodbye was always needlessly difficult. It was always some dreadful thing, some horrendously laborious task that he put off until the very last moment when he couldn’t run from it any longer. But through the past few weeks, it became increasingly easy to bid farewell to the city. It was a frightening thought at first, but he quickly settled into it.

He’d spent a long time avoiding it - avoiding it as he did everything else that required extensive consideration on his part. But finally, after a heavy sigh, he prompted, “Hey, Armin?”

Armin plopped down next to him. As he struggled to twist open the cap to his drink, he hummed in acknowledgement.

“What would you say if I told you I wanted to stay?”

It wasn’t particularly difficult - there was nothing important he was leaving behind, no people or social circles that he was all that attached to, no post-graduation plans that he’d been dying to carry out. Yet somehow, with his breath caught in his throat, he waited impatiently, wishing desperately that Armin would say something.

He half-expected disapproval, drowning miserably in the moment of silence between them. But then Armin gasped out, “Really? Wait - _really?_ ” He laughed, a bubbly, pleasant little sound that lifted the weight from Eren’s shoulders. “I’d say that’s a great idea!” He finally managed to open his drink, rambling on, “Oh, I heard there’s a little development studio in the town nearby - imagine that, Eren? Imagine how cool it would be if that worked out?”

Eren stared idly at his phone, wondering briefly how the inevitable argument would carry out once he called his father to let him know that he’d be staying. But with Armin rambling about all the things they’d do, as excited and wondrous as he’d always been, he decided that the phone call could come later. Much, much later.

* * *

The sunset washed over the forest in a wave of oranges and yellows, shining through the thick treetops and into Levi’s bedroom. A mellow, honeyed gold melted against Levi’s skin, as warm and gentle as the kisses he pressed along Eren’s neck. There was a welcome ache on Eren’s collarbones, dull and seething, a thick trial of bruises passing down over his chest, his abdomen, his inner thighs.

He was still basking in the afterglow, his eyes fluttering blissfully shut at the next soft press of Levi’s fingertips passing over the marks on his chest. Levi seemed especially fascinated with the healing claw marks that marred the smooth skin of his thighs and hips; he rested his hands against them yet again, rubbing almost reverently, just as entranced by them as he was earlier that evening.

The distant ache of them was just barely enough to keep Eren awake. He stirred a bit, thighs shifting away from where they had been resting against Levi’s hips. He idly mumbled, “And you call me the touchy one.”

He felt Levi’s lazy huff of amusement against the crook of his neck, as thick and heady as the mess between his thighs had become. There was the faintest hint of teeth in the next open-mouthed kiss against the column of his throat. Levi moved to suck another deep, splotchy bruise onto the stretch of his neck. Eren rolled his hips in vague interest, pleased with the slight hitch in Levi’s breath at the slow drag of his slick folds along his cock.

Levi kissed at the newly formed mark before pulling away. He sat upright, his fingertips roaming back upwards to smooth out over his handiwork. The glow of the sunset washed over him, highlighting his skin with a breathtakingly delicate hue of orange, in the warmest shade of yellow, in the most stunning gleam of gold. It almost muddled and hid the contrast of his stomach and the scar that had torn into it.

In Levi’s eyes, Eren recognized the golden-tipped light of admiration, glowing brightly there while his countenance remained impassive. “You look nice like that.” His gravelly murmur blended pleasantly with the honeyed glisten of the sunset in his eyes. “Tired. Bruised. It fits you.”

Eren hooked his legs over Levi’s waist, drawing him closer into another kiss. His lips slotted lazily with Levi’s, a soft sound drowning between them, the press of Levi’s half-hard cock against his slicked entrance an intoxicatingly dirty feeling. Levi broke the kiss to grumble dryly, “You’re too much.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “You love it.”

With how readily Levi allowed him to push him off and switch their positions, he didn’t even bother trying to deny it. Eren settled comfortably in his lap, grinding against him in long, deliberate rolls of the hips. Levi’s hands came up to rest on his thighs, gentle against the scabbed claw marks there. It was slow, pleasant, not enough to get off on, but enough to have Levi dig his nails into the marks.

Levi bucked up against him, cock hard and aching between them, the delicious grind of it against Eren’s clit eliciting a faint mewl. It only occurred to Eren that he had yet to see Levi during the sunset once the smooth orange had gradually started to darken to a rich navy. The sun poured out over the crowns of trees, nearly hidden behind them now, his grinding becoming more fervent the darker it grew.

Levi’s eyes were dark, nearly pitch black, the silver of his irises hidden in the shadow of the overhanging windowsill. Eren could drown in them, forever entranced in their scrutiny, taking him for everything he was, as blatant and all-encompassing as the moon had started to become. He fell forwards, forehead pressing against Levi’s shoulder, a groan tearing out from his throat at the next deliberate sting of Levi’s nails digging into his thighs.

The mind-numbing heat between his legs pooled and grew until he finally found that sharp, sweet release. Levi’s grip moved up to his hips, pulling him down harder, his own urgent thrusts nearly painful against his clit. Eren whined, a pitiful sound, thighs twitching with each slide of Levi’s cock against him. He was distantly aware of the lips at his neck, the new bruise that was left there, the sticky mess between his thighs as he was finally allowed to roll off and curl at Levi’s side.

He wasn’t sure when he dozed off, but when he came to, the window had been sealed shut and the moonlight glistened off the pearly white surface of the blanket thrown over his shoulders. He blinked blearily over next to him where Levi sat upright, back turned towards him, head tilted up towards the window to gaze at the smooth face of the moon. Levi absentmindedly rubbed at his claws, his hands oddly limp.

Eren saw the tail that curled against the mattress, and without a second thought, he reached out to touch. Levi startled a bit, but he didn’t pull away, his tail twitching idly as Eren toyed with it. The fur was hopelessly soft against his fingertips, gliding gently across his skin, the texture more pleasant than the blanket Levi had covered him with. He was glad Levi didn’t seem to mind the excessive petting.

Eren caught the thin lining of crimson against the beds of Levi’s claws as one hand was stretched out against the surface of the bed. He asked, voice emerging low and rough in his dry throat, “Does it hurt?”

Levi glanced at him, then back out the window. His tail twitched once more in Eren’s gentle grasp. “It does,” he admitted after some time. “I’m used to it.” He lifted one hand to examine his claws, murmuring with a faint grimace, “But these fuckers never stopped giving me problems on their way out.”

Eren propped himself up on his elbows, turning to glance up out the window. He was met by the delicate face of the moon, nearly full and alive in the starry night sky. A thin tendril of dread slithered down his spine at the sight, knowing full well that the inevitable night of the full moon was soon to come.

He heard a small sigh, clipped and baited, before Levi said, “You should stay out of the forest for a couple of days.”

Eren sunk back down against the blankets. He didn’t agree nor disagree, merely watching as Levi brought the opposite hand up to rub at his claws again, as his tail flicked lightly against the mattress. The moonlight illuminated his skin, making it seem more pallid and fragile than it already was, bringing him out while the sunlight only hid him further. Some part of him, through the rush of danger, the burning thrill, wondered how, exactly, the effects of the full moon would change him.

“What’s it like?”

Levi’s gaze turned towards him again. His eyes were bright, almost an ethereal white in the moonlight, the look in them nearly inscrutable. “It’s hell, as cliche as that is.” He shrugged with another heavy sigh. “I can still think. I’m at least _sort of_ myself. I don’t know who my father was, but something tells me he was just another human, because I was never like Kenny.”

Something close to revulsion lingered on his countenance as he stared back out the window. The allure of the moon seemed to call to him, drawing him in every time he drug himself out, more so now than ever. Eren caught Levi’s tail again as it swished towards him, soothingly rubbing the fur between his fingers.

Eren prompted tentatively, “If you can still think. . . .”

“I can think, but it’s different.” Levi deadpanned. “I’m myself. I think for myself. That’s the problem. I don’t turn fully, I don’t lose my shit like Kenny always did, but I almost do.” He hesitated only for a moment, something close to apprehension weighing his words as he said, “I almost do. Always. I almost do. That’s the hell part. Not thinking straight but also thinking enough to keep myself here. It’s painful. And that - I don't know if that’s a blessing or not, but I always preferred being at least a _little_ sentient.”

The monotone of a mirthless laugh laced his words. He seemed oddly defeated, curling in on himself the slightest bit, and the sight elicited an ache in Eren’s chest that he didn’t recognize. He reached out to one of Levi’s hands, outstretched against the blanket, weaving their fingers together despite the enigmatic look Levi gave him.

“Is being alone really a good idea, then?” Eren asked. 

The pad of his thumb ran gently along the curved backs of Levi’s claws. Levi turned away, a small hum rising in the back of his throat as if considering the question. He eventually said, “I don’t know. The only other person I’ve spent these nights with was Kenny, but that’s different. I can’t hurt Kenny.”

“What makes you think you’ll hurt me?” He pointed out with a small huff, “You don’t have to suffer alone if you don’t want to.”

Levi’s grip on his hand squeezed just a bit. Something pulled at the corners of his lips, but he remained impassive, voice gentle when he said, “Don’t worry about it, brat. That’s not a risk I think you should take.”

Levi withdrew his hand, only to lift the blanket and sidle under its cover. A disgruntled noise left Eren’s lips as Levi settled in his lap, the blanket pooling at his waist, ignoring the fingertips that trailed gently over his chest to grumble, “But that’s my decision to make.”

“And I’d say your decision-making skills are absolute dogshit,” Levi countered dryly.

Eren would complain, the protest already settling on his lips, but it was smothered with the next lazy kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, folks! The end to a story that was based off a nameless horror porn one shot I wrote back in 2016 :'''') Thanks for reading!
> 
> Tags have been updated + the archive warnings are finally applicable to this story! Read at your own discretion :))))

The forest was deathly silent. It watched him, listened to each breath he took, swallowed every echoing footstep as he passed the few low-hanging tree branches that masked the path to Levi’s cabin. He spent hours before, throughout the day and into the early night, sitting idly by his window, filled with nothing but the thought of Levi.

It was excruciating in its own way, waiting as every hour crawled slowly onwards, something akin to guilt coiling and seething in his gut until he finally left. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so difficult if he wasn’t alone - but Armin didn’t plan on coming home until the next morning, and the silence, paired with the knowledge of what Levi was suffering through, became unbearable.

The river’s steady hiss filled his mind, equally tranquil as it was baleful, fading just a bit behind the veil of the trees. He flinched at the loud, miserable groan of the floorboards under his feet, and soon after, the piercing rattle of the front door being shoved open. He felt oddly intrusive, being so noisy and blatant in the silent night, alerting the entirety of the forest of his presence with each clumsy action.

Moonlight illuminated the center of the cabin, spilling forth from the opened door and the large windows, highlighting the darkened edges of furniture and canvases. Through the beating of his own heart, he heard the dull, insistent scratching against wood, jarring and raucous in the silence. It called to him, drawing him over to the faint silhouette that curled in the hallway underneath the loft. He saw the unnatural way in which the body sat still, moving only to raise one trembling hand up against the wall.

“I told you,” he heard Levi say. His voice faltered, died off into the night, replaced by the next splintering crack of claws digging into wood. His body jerked, shoulders hunching, three thick indents blending seamlessly with the rest. He withdrew his hand, trying again with a slow, grating rasp, “I told you to stay away.”

“Yeah, and I told you that was my decision to make.”

A seething growl ripped through the air at the first step he took forwards. He halted, heart pounding against the back of his throat, watching with a cold, foreign dread steadily rising in his chest as Levi crept forwards. His claws were longer, somehow, curving at the tips now, embedded in fur that seemed thicker. Crouched there in the shadow under the loft, outlined only by the lingering shine of the moonlight, Levi watched, eyes unblinking, unmoving as Eren kicked the door shut behind him.

He was brought back to the night he discovered Levi. It wasn’t very clear what it was that pushed him to take another tentative step forward, but he recognized the ache - in his chest, in his racing heart, in the tight clench in his throat. He could see the wet glisten of blood at the bases of Levi’s claws, the jagged teeth that were bared as he inched closer.

“Levi.” He saw the faint flash of recognition in those dark eyes. The breath he’d been holding finally released as Levi’s sneer fell. “You’re listening. Right?”

Levi let out a tremulous sigh. His fingers curled and dug into the floorboards, dragging back towards him from where they were poised with a loud, splintering scrape. He bit out lowly, “Yeah. What?”

Were it not for the flattened ears and the wrinkle that still lingered on Levi’s nose, Eren would have continued onwards. He would have reached out, just as he always had, and weaved their fingers together. He’d be just as mindful as the claws as any other night, mindful of the blood that started to dry and crack along the beds of them, mindful not to accidentally lay on his tail when they’d eventually settle. 

He quietly stated, “I asked you before if you were ready to let me in, you know.”

Levi’s brow furrowed, eyes averted for just a moment. He responded with a disgruntled mumble, “That’s different.”

“Is it, though?”

“It is. It fucking is.” His gaze followed Eren’s arms as they crossed over his chest, the silver in them finally visible, some semblance of control returning long enough for him to say, “This isn’t a game, you brat. This isn’t some fucking fairy-tale, some happy-go-lucky bullshit story that you see in the movies -”

“You’re telling me that like I’m here to save you when I’m not. It’s not about saving anyone.” Eren rolled his eyes. He nearly missed the way Levi’s claws dug back into the floorboard by his knees. “It’s not about that. I just - I don’t know - care? A little bit? And me giving a damn about you doesn’t make me a brat.”

“No, what makes you a brat is that you don’t listen,” Levi said dryly.

“And you wouldn’t listen to me, either. I care. I care a lot more than I should and I _know_ that. And - and yeah, okay, maybe it’s a bad idea. _Maybe_ ,” he stressed, putting down Levi’s attempt at interjecting. “Maybe it’s a bad idea, but I don’t care. I don’t. I sat in my room, knowing you were suffering out here, feeling like the night’s gonna last forever, and I felt terrible.”

He stepped closer once more. Perhaps Levi could smell the fear that refused to die, the apprehension that laced every step he took, judging by how dark his eyes were, how quickly they were to gloss over as they did earlier. Levi’s nostrils flared, pupils blown impossibly wide, a growl rumbling deep in his chest and dripping into every word as he said, “You don’t know how fucking hard this is.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” Eren held his breath for a moment, then released it with the next step forward. “But I’m willing to find out. If you’ll let -”

His words died on his tongue and left him as quickly as the air in his lungs had when Levi finally pounced. Eren’s head spun, chest heaving to catch his breath, going rigid as the wood on either side of his head splintered under Levi’s claws. He could see his reflection in Levi’s glassy eyes, as clear and bright as the simmering ring of silver that encased the abyss of each pupil.

Catching himself, he reached up, cupping Levi’s face, hands mercifully still and calm despite the next deep, clicking growl. He ran his thumbs over Levi’s cheeks, rubbing gently over the ugly bruises that hung under each eye. He tried softly, “Levi.”

For one chilling moment, Levi’s upper lip pulled back into a snarl. His jaw quivered where it opened to reveal sharpened teeth, any semblance of his human counterpart long gone, glistening under the moonlight in a fine coat of drool. Then, he leaned into the touch, lip falling, a soft noise leaving him. A smouldering breath of relief finally left Eren’s lips, a new sort of calm washing over him at the heavy thud of Levi’s forehead falling onto his shoulder.

Each shaky breath melted onto his skin, hot and heady where they burned against the bruises. The distant crack of Levi removing his claws from the floorboards served as an odd comfort. As he reached up to scratch lightly at Levi’s undercut, he asked, “Better?”

The next breath hitched, paused, washed over his neck in a slow, tormenting release. “Too much,” Levi rasped. He only nuzzled further, voice muffled when he added, “but it’s good.”

Levi’s cold nose against the crook of his neck was a slight shock, accompanied soon after by the delicate brush of his lips. Eren tilted his head to the side, opening up his neck to the soft kiss that Levi pressed against him. It was strikingly tender, a gentle thing, the gesture lovelier than the glitter of the moon shining on the river. Levi’s hands fell to rest on his shoulders, his grip painstakingly gentle, mindful of his claws where his fingertips laid.

He was largely unresponsive, ignoring how Eren’s fingers threaded through the hair at the back of his head, hands rigid and unmoving as he basked in Eren’s scent. It was an awe of its own, this apparent self-control, how well he held himself together despite nearly falling apart moments prior. He seemed to have been lulled into a quiet enough peace, lost in Eren as he would be in the bittersweet scent of a candle burned for far too long, drowning in him as he would in the rushing, tumultuous stretches of the river outside.

“Why?”

There was still a slight tremor to Levi’s voice, even after all this time, as small and restrained as his hands were where they had slipped lower to rest on Eren’s chest. Eren nuzzled into Levi’s hair, the fur at the bases of his ears brushing lightly over his cheeks. Levi paused, tensed the slightest bit, before leaving another kiss against what Eren knew was one of the many marks that he’d carelessly left on the stretch of his neck.

“I like you. And sitting around at home just waiting for you to get over shit felt wrong.” Eren listened to the distant rush of water, blatantly loud in the ominous silence of the night. He could hear each breath that Levi took, each steadying exhale that left his thin lips. “It’s that simple, really. That lone wolf crap you try pulling off doesn’t impress me, either.”

A chill ran down his spine at the growl that rumbled deep in Levi’s chest. It dripped in every seething word as Levi said, “That wasn’t the point.”

He reached up to placatingly scratch at Levi’s ears, saying, “But everything’s fine. You’re doing good.”

Eren felt the shuddering sigh that followed his words. Levi melted at the touch, a feral keen in his throat, fingertips dipping the slightest bit in the minute urge to curve and pull at Eren’s shirt. He sounded strikingly needy when he murmured, “Am I?”

“You are.” He paused, then tried, “You’re good.” 

Levi bucked his hips, another keen forcing itself past his lips. It was thrilling, this little discovery, some cruel part of Eren making him dig his fingers harder, run his thumb through a tuft of fur in a rough way that he knew Levi liked. He bit his lip at the slight pinprick of Levi’s claws through his shirt, and Levi - whether it was a disappointment or relief, Eren didn’t know - moved his hands over to Eren’s sides. He only held himself up for a moment before he melted further.

A whine rose high in his throat, nearly imperceptible, as light and airy as Eren’s chest felt. “You’re so good, Levi.”

“Shut up.” Levi bucked his hips again, harder now, voice strained as he grumbled, “Just - fuck.” Wood splintered faintly, and amidst another whine, Levi said, “Wait.”

Eren continued for a few more painstaking moments before he finally stopped and withdrew his fingers. Levi’s breath caught as he found the strength to lift himself up again, eyes bleary, gaze hazy in that familiar way that made Eren’s mouth inexplicably dry. He said with a satisfied grin, “You were never this sensitive.”

Levi scowled. He raked his claws down a few inches. “Stop being a shithead.”

On his lap, he could feel Levi’s half-hard cock pressed against him. He ran his hands down over Levi’s shoulders and back, the touch eliciting a faint shudder, stopping at Levi’s ass to grope and pull him down to grind on his lap. Something rumbled deep in Levi’s chest, not quite a growl, hips rolling deliciously slow a few times before he ground out, “You’re too much.”

Eren rolled his eyes as he always did, countering lightly as Levi moved to nudge between his thighs, “You love it.”

The press of Levi’s lips against his was intoxicating, somehow both tentative and impatient, careful and strained. The next roll of Eren’s hips against Levi’s had him sighing into the kiss, copper strikingly blatant on his tongue, as sweet and heady as the ominous press of his claws on Eren’s thigh. Eren breathed in the next sound, drowning in the dirty sensation of Levi rutting against him, rough and delightfully shameless, hitching one thigh up higher as he did so.

The moment Eren’s fingers touched the fluffy tip of one ear, Levi broke the kiss with another rumbling growl, snapping the offending hand away and pinning it over Eren’s head. Eren’s heart raced at the loud, screeching tear of his jeans being ripped open where his thighs had been thrown wide, head spinning at the press of Levi’s fingers over his clit. He bucked up against Levi’s fingers, the sensation pleasant, barely choking back an impatient groan when Levi paused.

It was only a moment, breath held and shoulders tense, before Levi regained that bit of consciousness he’d lost his hold of. Eren whined when the grinding resumed, deliberately rough now, torturous anticipation building in his gut when Levi dipped lower to press against the wet spot that had formed on his boxers. He would’ve shied away were it not for Levi’s small keen, soft and airy on his lips.

He tightened his legs over where they hooked over Levi’s waist to pull him closer. The grind of Levi’s clothed dick against him elicited another moan, their rutting rough and impatient, breaths hot and heady between them when they broke the kiss. Levi let go of his wrist, fingertips trailing over his chest instead, his movements tremulous and unfocused when he tugged the button of his trousers loose.

Eren pressed a soft kiss to Levi’s neck. For a moment, his chest sung, stomach fluttering, almost gaping at how willingly Levi bared his neck to him. At the next harsh rut against him, Eren sunk his teeth into the crook of Levi’s neck. He slacked under the bite, mindlessly grasping at Eren’s shirt, a rough moan leaving his lips. It was so shamelessly dirty, breathless and needy, rumbling deep in his throat and going straight to Eren’s cunt. The sudden sting of Levi’s claws scraping over his chest as they tore into his shirt added to the heady ache between his thighs.

The bite mark was accentuated by the moonlight, red and angry and seething beautifully where it lay on Levi’s skin. Eren’s attention was drawn to the sharp inhale, the way Levi tensed and sat upright, nostrils flaring, hands curled into himself as if they had been burned.

Eren propped himself up on his elbows. “What?”

He flinched when Levi abruptly tore his shirt down the middle. It was careless, uncoordinated, his pupils blown impossibly wide, revealing the few thin scratches that he accidentally left on Eren’s chest. Small droplets of blood welled along the length of them, glistening wetly in the strong glow of the moonlight, the sight of them forcing an odd, keening noise from the back of Levi’s throat. Eren brought one hand up to Levi’s cheek, rubbing soothing circles against his skin, but Levi remained unresponsive.

“What?” Eren asked again. His only response was another trembling keen. His hand retreated to his chest, running his thumb along the scratches with a small, gratifying sting. “This what you want, then?” 

He flushed under Levi’s heavy gaze, watching him with a blatant, needy hunger that made his blood rush hotter than it already did. He rolled his hips up against Levi once more, the pressure doing nothing to alleviate his ache. Levi tentatively fell forwards, hips almost involuntarily rutting against him again, still transfixed by the scratches.

“Too much,” Levi distantly said. “It’s too much.”

Eren would talk back as he always did, as playful and cheeky as ever, but the words faltered as Levi licked the smear of blood left by Eren’s fingers. A growl left him, low and clicking, harsh and predatory in a way it hadn’t been before. Eren shuddered at the next press of Levi’s claws against the scratches, digging deeper, the harsh sting of them making Eren rest back against the ground with a hiss.

Levi seemed entranced by the grotesque ribbons that yawned in the wake of his claws. He licked a thick, wet stripe along them, hands clamping over Eren’s thighs to pull him closer. Levi drew him into another kiss, copper heavy on his tongue. The teeth at Eren’s lips bit, tore, mouths slick and hot where they met, met shortly after by the excruciating puncture of Levi’s claws curling and tearing into the meat of his thighs.

He jumped, squirming under Levi’s unyielding figure, the protest that started on his lips trailing into a wretched groan as Levi tore deep through flesh and fabric alike. Thick, jagged valleys wept on either side of him, staining the floorboards beneath him, coating Levi’s fur and claws in a bold, wet glisten. Eren wilted under the glassy gaze that regarded him, an abyss in which he didn’t recognize, too hazy to see anything in but his own reflection.

“Levi, wait!” Eren scrambled backwards as best he could, chest heaving, words jumbled and breathless when he pleaded, “Levi, listen. You’re listening. Right? Levi -”

He yelped as Levi pounced. He fought fruitlessly to shove Levi off, yanking at what fur he could reach, legs kicking despite the way they screeched with each movement. He heard the low, feral growl before he felt the teeth that sunk into his neck, ripping and tearing as easily as the sun would dip and disappear over the horizon. Blood rushed in his ears, drowning out his scream, the whine that followed, the sound of parting flesh.

Tension built where Eren’s neck met his shoulder, pulling in scorching agony until it eventually tore, allowing him to finally kick away. He caught the glimpse of wet, lumpy crimson between Levi’s jaws as he turned and stumbled. Before he could drag himself up, Levi was on him again, the hard press of him against Eren’s back eliciting a strangled whimper.

He aimlessly reached back to shove Levi away. His voice came out small, defeated, trembling as he said, “This isn’t you, Levi!” His palm bumped harshly against Levi’s nose, blood and drool and something mushy smearing on his skin. “Please. _Please_ , Levi.”

Levi’s head turned to latch onto Eren’s wrist, crunching through bone, releasing only after his scream had dissolved into a miserable sob. Eren slipped and fell onto his limp, dangling hand as he tried to crawl away, the dull throb of it making him slack and sob again. His ears rang with the shrill rip of what remained of his jeans being torn off.

Levi grabbed his hips and hitched him up on his knees. He could feel Levi’s cock against him, his senseless rutting, soon prodding against his entrance with nothing but mindless, predatory need. Eren whined at the hands that came under him to claw into his abdomen, cock finally pushing in, teeth returning to tear into his shoulder.

A wrecked moan left him as Levi fucked him with ruthless abandon. His knees fell wider apart, pushed forward by a particularly rough thrust, falling onto his chest as Levi wrested a mouthful of his shoulder off. Another noise left him, some garbled scream, as delirious as the sound of his ripping flesh was. White-hot pressure built and gnawed and wrenched at his abdomen until it fell apart on the floorboards beneath him with a wet splatter.

The wood was cold on his knees, cold on his face, cold where his ruined shoulder scraped against it, filled with nothing but the heat of Levi. His head spun, his senses quickly becoming fuzzy, unfocused. His cunt ached, a traitorously sweet feeling, the heady burn of it muddling with the fear in his hazy mind. There was a separate kind of peace in giving up, in letting go, in pushing back against the creature that fucked him, in every wretchedly lewd sound that was dragged out of his throat.

It took Eren a long moment to register the paws that eventually settled around his waist, curling inwards into the mess of snakes and ribbons that hung from him. He was vaguely aware of the beginnings of a knot that pressed against his cunt, of the wet nudge of a muzzle nosing just under his ear. He reached that excruciating release, drowning in cold, agonizing euphoria, his whimper weak and muffled.

Distantly, he heard the squelch of ripping flesh, the crunch of shattering bone, fading away as the creature’s maw twisted and tore out the nape of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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